Spine

The spine is one of the most complex and important systems in the human body. The spinal column is the body’s main support structure. Its thirty-three bones, called vertebrae, are divided into five regions: cervical, thoracic, lumbar, sacral, and coccygeal.

The medical treatment of spinal injuries and diseases requires an equally intricate knowledge of several disciplines, including orthopedics, neurology, chiropractic, vascular, and others. To offer the best possible level of spine care for our patients, Florida Orthopaedic Institute has developed a unique center of excellence totally and absolutely dedicated to the treatment of the spine.

Florida Orthopaedic Institute’s spine specialists focus on prevention, restoration of function, reduction in pain, and control of costs in developing any treatment for back pain. Education, exercise, medication, ultrasound, heat, massage, and chiropractic therapies are often applied as nonsurgical options to relieving spine pain. If nonsurgical approaches are not effective, the team is able to offer the latest advancements in state-of-the-art spine surgery.

Interventional Spine

The spine specialists of Florida Orthopaedic Institute understand how living with chronic spine pain can adversely affect your life. For this reason, the spine team of Florida Orthopaedic Institute applies the latest technology available for diagnosis and treatment of an array of painful spinal conditions.

Interventional treatment options are often more efficient and effective than traditional therapy for spine (back and neck) pain and discomfort. In addition, new interventional spine techniques are an exceptional, minimally invasive alternative to conventional surgery.

Minimally Invasive Spine Surgery

If you have chronic back pain that has not responded to nonsurgical treatments, minimally invasive spine surgery may be a solution for you. Unlike an open spine procedure, minimally invasive spine surgery combines technological advances with state-of-the-art practices that reduce both the size of your incision as well as your hospital stay. Certain spine conditions respond very positively to this procedure as opposed to many conventional open spine surgeries. Minimally invasive spine surgery involves fewer risks than open spine surgeries.

The Florida Orthopaedic Institute’s spine specialists have both the experience and skill to perform the procedure safely and effectively. Since minimally invasive spine surgery is an extremely advanced technical procedure, our specialized surgeons are dedicated to continuing their knowledge of all up-to-date procedures and many are personally involved in assisting with the creation of new technologies.

Diffuse Idiopathic Skeletal Hyperostosis (DISH)

Also known as Forestier’s disease, Diffuse Idiopathic Skeletal Hyperostosis (DISH) is a bony hardening (calcification) of ligaments and tendons in areas where they attach to your spine.

Mild to moderate pain and stiffness in your upper back are the most common symptoms. Diffuse Idiopathic Skeletal Hyperostosis (DISH) can also affect your neck, lower back, shoulders, elbows, knees and heels.

Even though DISH is a non-inflammatory condition, it can be progressive. As it gets worse, it can cause serious complications.

Artificial Disc Replacement (ADR)

Artificial disk replacement (ADR) is an alternative treatment option for low back pain instead of lumbar fusion. It preserves a more normal motion of the spine. While many patients are helped by lumbar fusion, the results of the surgery can vary.

In artificial disk replacement, a synthetic or “artificial” disk replaces worn or damaged disk material between the small bones in the spine (vertebrae).

Artificial disk replacement is designed to relieve back pain while maintaining more normal motion. Artificial disk replacement has been used in the U.S. since 2004, and research studies have demonstrated greater than 89-97% good or excellent results from ADR surgery.

Kyphosis

Kyphosis is a spinal disorder that causes a forward rounding of the upper back. It is also known as roundback, or in cases where there is a severe curve, hunchback. It is very common, with more than 3 million cases in the U.S. every year.

Kyphosis can occur at any age but it occurs more often during adolescence and in older women.

Some people with kyphosis experience back pain and stiffness. Others have no symptoms other than an excessive forward rounding of the back. Treatment for kyphosis can help, but the condition can’t be cured.

Spondylolisthesis and Spondylolysis

Spondylolisthesis and spondylolysis are two conditions that cause low back pain, especially in young athletes.

Spondylolysis is a crack or stress fracture in one of the vertebrae. It often occurs in children and adolescents that participate in sports with repeated stress on the lower back, such as football, gymnastics and weight lifting.

If the stress fracture weakens the bone enough that it is unable to maintain its proper position in the spine, the vertebra can shift or slip out of place. This is called spondylolisthesis.

Spinal Fusion

Spinal fusion surgery stops the motion at a painful back joint, decreasing the pain that is generated from the joint.

Spinal fusion surgery is also used to treat other spine conditions including a weak or unstable spine (caused by infections or tumors), fractures, scoliosis, or deformity.

To learn more about spinal fusion surgery, click below.

EPIDURAL INJECTIONS FOR SPINAL PAIN

In epidural spinal injections, a steroid is injected directly around the dura, the sac around the nerve roots that contains cerebrospinal fluid.

Epidural Injections help reduce inflammation associated with common conditions such as spinal stenosis, disc herniation, or degenerative disc disease. The flushing effect from the injection helps remove or “flush out” inflammatory proteins from around structures that may cause pain.

Epidural steroid injections are successful in relieving lower back pain for approximately 50% of patients. The effects of the injection may be temporary (one week to one year). Epidural injections can be very beneficial in providing relief for patients during an episode of severe back pain and allow patients to progress in their rehabilitation.

Sciatica

Sciatica describes symptoms of pain, numbness, or weakness that spread from the sciatic nerve down the lower back to the buttocks and leg. Medically sciatica is termed lumbar radiculopathy. Sciatica is a symptom of an underlying condition, not a diagnosis.

Most sciatica symptoms result from lower back disorders (like a herniated disc pressing on a nerve root) that put pressure on or causes irritation to the sciatic nerve.
Sciatica can also occur when a disc degenerates – releasing inflammatory proteins that irritate the adjacent nerve. There are other additional causes of sciatica.

Symptoms are usually only felt on one side of the body, including a combination of leg and foot pain, weakness, tingling or numbness. Pain can be searing or sharp versus achy or throbbing. Symptoms are felt in different areas of the leg and into the foot, depending on where the sciatic nerve is compressed.

Vertebroplasty

Vertebroplasty is a procedure for stabilizing compression fractures in the spine, by injecting a special cement into back bones (vertebrae) that have cracked or broken. When the cement hardens, it stabilizes the fracture and supporting the spine. These compression fractures are often caused by osteoporosis.

For those with severe, disabling pain, vertebroplasty can relieve pain, increase mobility and reduce the use of pain medication. It is typically an outpatient procedure.