Lumbar Spine Surgery Specialist

Regenerative Spine and Pain Institute

Board Certified Pain Management Physicians & Stem Cell Specialists located in Plainsboro Township, NJ & Freehold, NJ

If your lower back pain isn't improving despite treatment, you might be worried that the only alternative is lumbar spine surgery. Before you consider surgery, double board-certified pain management specialist Ronak D. Patel, MD, of Regenerative Spine and Pain Institute, can help. The practice, with locations in Plainsboro Township and Freehold, New Jersey, provides a range of advanced therapies, including vertebroplasty and kyphoplasty, cortisone injections, spinal cord stimulation, and radiofrequency ablation. The team welcomes residents of Plainsboro, Freehold, Hamilton, and other local communities. Call to schedule an in-office or telehealth consultation or book online today.

Lumbar Spine Surgery Q&A

What is lumbar spine surgery?

Lumbar spine surgery is a form of treatment many people undergo when they have back pain that isn't improving using less invasive methods. Some common types of spine surgery include:

Discectomy
Microdiscectomy
Disc replacement
Spinal fusion
Laminectomy
Laminotomy
Foraminotomy

These surgeries can be very effective in the hands of a skilled orthopedic or neurological surgeon.

However, there are risks associated with having surgery that you need to consider before undergoing one of these operations and deciding whether alternatives to lumbar spine surgery are a better choice.

What are the risks of lumbar spine surgery?

Any surgery that involves having a general anesthetic presents a degree of risk. There's also the potential for infection in the wound, blood loss, significant pain, and a longer recovery. You might be left with scarring, too.

Advanced minimally invasive and robotic techniques reduce the size of incisions and the tissue damage they cause, and an experienced surgeon has formidable skills when it comes to performing lumbar spine surgery.

However, they always recommend exploring non-surgical solutions to your musculoskeletal pain before considering surgery.

What are the alternatives to lumbar spine surgery?

Regenerative Spine and Pain Institute offers a variety of alternatives to lumbar spine surgery. The providers’ expert use of physical therapies, medication management, and regenerative medicine techniques is effective in helping the majority of patients with their chronic pain.

For patients who aren't achieving sufficient improvement in their symptoms, Regenerative Spine and Pain Institute offers advanced treatment options, including:

Cortisone injections

Epidural steroid injections containing cortisone and, very often, a local anesthetic are highly effective in reducing tissue inflammation, which is often a cause of chronic back pain. Your provider uses image guidance technology to deliver the cortisone to the epidural space in your lumbar spine.

Radiofrequency ablation

Radiofrequency ablation is a minimally invasive procedure in which your provider inserts a needle into the nerve causing your back pain, down which they pass an electrode. The electrode delivers radiofrequency energy to the nerve, causing a lesion that stops the nerve sending pain signals to your brain.

Spinal cord stimulation

A spinal cord stimulator is a small pulse generator unit connected to electrodes that your provider implants under your skin. You control the device remotely, regulating the current the electrode delivers to your nerves. Stimulating the nerves causes your pain to change to a tingling sensation, effectively reducing the degree of discomfort you feel.