Your spine is at the center of a delicately balanced system that controls all of your body’s movements. Bones, muscles, ligaments, tendons, and nerves all work together to balance the weight of your body. Even minor damage to one component of your back’s structure can upset this fragile balance and make movement painful. It is not surprising, then, that back pain is second only to headache as the most common cause of pain, or that 8 out of 10 people will have a problem with back pain at some time.
The spinal column provides support to the body while allowing it to move freely. It also protects the spinal cord—the body’s main nerve “highway.” Twenty-four bones, or vertebrae, provide stability to the spine. Between each vertebra are discs that are firm on the outside and jelly-like on the inside. These discs serve to separate and cushion the vertebrae, giving the spine the ability to comfortably bend and twist. Extending off the spinal cord is a network of nerves that carry messages to and from the brain and the rest of the body. Pressure on any one of these sensitive nerve roots, or on the spinal cord itself, causes pain.
The spine surgeons at Southern Bone & Joint Specialists are eminently qualified to treat the full range of disorders affecting the cervical, thoracic, and lumbar spine in adults and children. We provide complete diagnostic, treatment, and preventive intervention. We specialize in the treatment of back and neck pain due to injury, deformity, and degenerative conditions, including:
While the causes of back and neck pain have not changed much over the years, at SBJS, we are constantly updating and expanding our expertise to include the latest approaches to treating spinal conditions. In all cases the goal remains the same: to restore your health and function as rapidly and completely as possible with the least risk.
To ensure an accurate diagnosis, our physicians have access to a complete range of advanced diagnostic equipment including high-speed magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), computerized tomography (CT scan), bone densitometers, myelography, and discography.
Nonsurgical interventions such as epidural steroids, trigger point injections, nerve root blocks, and facet joint injections offer patients additional therapeutic alternatives, when more conservative measures prove inadequate.
Surgical procedures are chosen only after nonsurgical options have been exhausted. Our orthopaedic surgeons are board-certified and qualified to perform a full spectrum of spinal procedures, from minimally invasive microsurgical techniques to complex anterior and posterior spinal reconstruction.
Lumbar discectomy is performed to relieve back and/or leg pain caused by a herniated, or ruptured, disc in the lower back that is pinching, or compressing, a nerve root. Tumors and spinal stenosis can also pinch nerves and may require lumbar decompression. During discectomy, the ruptured portion of the disc is surgically removed to relieve the pressure on the nerve. When a degenerative disc causes a nerve to be pinched by bone, spinal fusion is performed to prevent motion within the vertebral segment that is the source of the pain. The entire disc is removed and a bone graft permanently fuses the two vertebrae.
Recent advances in spinal instrumentation, bone graft substitutes, and small-incision techniques have revolutionized lumbar spinal surgery. Our surgeons are trained in these techniques and have access to the state-of-the-art surgical equipment required to perform them. Thanks to these advances, as well as to new rehabilitation and mobilization techniques, our spine surgery patients are spending less time in the hospital and are experiencing reduced pain, improved function, and more rapid recovery.
In the near future, new surgical procedures to replace discs and vertebrae in the lumbar spine are likely to become standard treatment protocol. Vertebroplasty is a minimally invasive procedure that helps relieve the pain and deformity caused by vertebral compression fractures. Guided by x-ray images, our surgeons are able to insert a needle through the skin into the vertebral body. “Bone cement”—used for decades in joint replacement—is then injected into the crushed vertebral body. In minutes, the cement hardens, fusing the bone fragments together in a strong, solid mass.
As many patients suffer from neck pain as from lower back pain, and many of the same conditions affect both areas of the spine. At SBJS, our spine surgeons use the same advanced surgical techniques and instrumentation used to treat the lumbar spine for repairing the cervical spine, including cervical decompression, cervical fusion, and small incision surgery. We tailor all cervical spine treatments to the complex and delicate mechanics of the neck.
Scoliosis refers to abnormal side-to-side (lateral) curves in the spinal column. When determining treatment options—such as continued observation, bracing, or corrective surgery—Dr. Maddox considers spinal maturity; the degree, extent, and location of the curvature; and the potential for progression. Recent advances in the surgical and post-surgical treatment of scoliosis, and other spinal deformities such as kyphosis and spondylolisthesis, have greatly reduced hospital stays, the need for post-surgical bracing, and recovery time.
For patients with tumors, infections, and other serious conditions of the spinal skeleton, we believe in a multidisciplinary approach to treatment. Our spine surgeons consult with other specialists within our clinic, as well as with experts in pediatrics, oncology, and radiation therapy, to ensure the most favorable outcomes.
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The Southern Bone and Joint Specialists website is for general informational purposes only. This information should not be used for diagnosis, nor should it be considered a replacement for consultation with a health care professional. If you have questions or concerns about your health, please contact us to schedule an appointment.
While the Southern Bone and Joint Specialists have endeavored to make sure the information contained on this website is accurate, Southern Bone and Joint Specialists cannot guarantee the accuracy of such information, and it is provided without warranty or guarantee of any kind.
