During and After Spinal Decompression Surgery
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If you’re thinking about spinal decompression surgery, you probably have a lot of questions about what you can expect during and after the procedure.
During Spinal Decompression -
Your surgery will be scheduled for the morning. You will check into the hospital and sign permits for surgery, anesthesia, blood, and blood products.
Once the surgery begins, an incision will be made in the lower back, or in the neck if you’re having cervical surgery. Fluoroscopy, a method for making images, will be used to determine the correct level or levels on which to operate. Whatever tissue is guilty of the nerve compression, usually bone or ligament, is then removed.
Sometimes fusion will be performed subsequent to the decompression in order to stabilize the affected area. The entire surgery will take one to four hours.
After Spinal Decompression -
Once the procedure is complete, you will be in the recovery room for an hour to an hour and a half. Your family will be contacted while you are in recovery. From recovery, you’ll be moved to a room, at which point you’ll be given a PCA pump to administer pain medication. This machine regulates the amount of medication you can have.
The staff will normally assist you in getting out of bed later on that same day. Typically, you’ll be in the hospital for one to three days. You may be given a brace or a corset to restrict bending, along with any other necessary prescriptions and discharge instructions.
You will also be given a set of exercises to do at home. It is extremely important that you do these exercises. Don’t skip them, because only movement and strengthening will help your back to fully heal properly. If you feel like you’re in too much pain, talk to your doctor. Obviously if there is a complication, you don’t want to exacerbate it, but frequently the better you are about doing your exercises, the less pain you will be in and the faster you will heal.
You’ll be able to ride in a car or a plane immediately after you leave the hospital. Physical therapy will probably begin after your first doctor visit following surgery.
Other Things to Help You Heal -
As mentioned, your doctor will have given you instructions, medications, and exercises to do once you leave the hospital. But if you want to get well completely and quickly, you don’t have to limit yourself to just those things.
For example, find out just how much exercise is permissible, especially once a couple of weeks have elapsed. Don’t strain your new back, obviously, but if you feel able to do more without overdoing it, talk to your doctor and physical therapist about other safe forms of exercise.
Also look into vitamin and nutritional supplements and good foods to eat to aid in the healing process. What feeds healthy muscle and bone tissue? If your doctors can’t give you satisfactory answers, get second opinions or do research on your own. Any doctors worth their salt should appreciate the importance of nutrition in healing.
If you do all of this to help yourself, you’re well on the road to a new, pain-free lifestyle.
