Lumbar Fusion Alternatives in Ohio | Pain Management

If you have been told you need a lumbar fusion or have already had surgery with minimal results, considering alternative therapies can help reduce your pain and improve your quality of life. At Pain Zero, we focus on helping patients when other procedures have failed or are likely to have limited success.

There are different types of lumbar fusion surgery, but they all include fusing two or more vertebrae in the lumbar region of the spine, or your lower back. With fusion surgery, motion in the fused vertebrae is reduced in an effort to limit pain caused by conditions such as spinal stenosis or degenerative disc disease.

Lumbar fusion surgery is permanent and cannot be reversed, and complications are common. Therefore, it’s essential to consider all your options, including lumbar fusion alternatives, when you have been told you need spinal surgery.

Although lumbar fusion surgery is designed to reduce pain, it’s not without its limitations. When mobility is limited in one part of the spine, the other areas are forced to compensate, which can lead to accelerated wear in these locations. This specific issue is called adjacent disc disease.

If you have had lumbar fusion surgery that has not been successful, you may continue to experience symptoms such as:

• Continuing pain and discomfort

• Leakage of cerebrospinal fluid

• Nerve injury or numbness

• Worsening pain or discomfort

Considering lumbar fusion alternatives may be able to help you avoid surgery or alleviate continuing pain after fusion surgery.

If you’re looking for an alternative to lumbar fusion, Pain Zero offers a multitude of innovative treatments that can help you avoid surgery, reduce pain from failed surgery, decrease your dependence on pain medication, and get back to doing the things you love.

Epidural Steroid Injections

Epidural steroid injections help reduce pain by delivering anti-inflammatory medications or corticosteroids directly into the affected area. These injections are minimally invasive and can provide both short-term and long-term relief for back pain from lumbar fusion surgery.

Minimally Invasive Lumbar Decompression

If you’ve been told you need lumbar decompression along with a lumbar fusion, you may qualify for minimally invasive lumbar decompression (mild®). This procedure helps the majority of patients avoid open spine surgery, sometimes for five years or longer. No anesthesia is needed for this in-office procedure.

Nerve Blocks

If you have nerve damage from lumbar fusion surgery, a nerve block can help disrupt pain signals and reduce discomfort. Nerve blocks are safe, low-risk injections that can treat both acute and chronic pain from spinal surgery, although they are not meant to be used as a long-term solution.

Radiofrequency Ablation

Radiofrequency ablation is a targeted procedure that uses heat to damage the nerves responsible for transmitting pain signals. This innovative procedure can provide up to six months of pain relief for patients with lumbar spine pain and offers a fast recovery time.

Kyphoplasty

If you have a vertebral compression fracture that’s causing you severe pain, you may qualify for kyphoplasty. Kyphoplasty uses a surgical balloon in a minimally invasive procedure to restore vertebral height and alleviate the pain associated with the fracture without lumbar fusion surgery.

Spinal Cord Stimulation

Patients who have numbness or tingling from nerve damage following spinal surgery may benefit from spinal cord stimulation. In this procedure, a technique called neuromodulation, or neurostimulation, is used to interrupt pain signals to relieve pain. Patients who are looking for an alternative to lumbar fusion surgery and have similar symptoms can also benefit.

Intrathecal Pain Pump

Pain Zero provides both IV infusion therapy and intrathecal pain pumps for patients with chronic back pain. A pain pump is a device inserted under the skin that delivers pain medication directly to the affected area, allowing patients to avoid the side effects of oral pain medication. During an IV infusion, medications are released into the bloodstream over a short period of time (between one to three hours) at our clinic to reduce pain.

In some cases, lumbar fusion surgery is necessary. These can include cases where there is a spine deformity, fracture, tumor, or excessive mobility after previous surgeries. In some cases, spinal stenosis and degenerative discs will need surgery as well.

However, every patient is different, and many will be able to consider alternatives to lumbar fusion surgery. You may qualify for alternative therapies to spinal fusion surgery if you have:

• Degenerative disc disease

• Failed back surgery syndrome

• Spinal instability

• Spinal nerve compression

• Spinal stenosis

• Spondylosis or Spondylolisthesis

Our experienced pain management specialists at Pain Zero can help you determine if you qualify for an alternative to lumbar fusion surgery based on your unique case.