How to Enlarge a Narrowing Lateral Recess
A narrowing lateral recess is also referred to as Lateral Recess Stenosis. This particular stenosis causes the pinching of nerve roots as the nerves exit the spine. This pressure causes a significant amount of pain not only in your back but also down your legs and sometimes radiating out to your arms. The disorder requires medical intervention to truly fix the condition or “widen” the lateral recess.
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Instructions
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Consult a doctor regarding your condition. Different physicians choose different procedures for fixing the condition. The best one for you is often dependent on how narrow your lateral recess is and where the root of the problem lies.
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Go over all your options and decide on the best procedure for you.
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Consult your health insurance to find out how much your financial responsibility will be and what the time frame is for approval.
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Schedule the surgery with your doctor. Inquire as to what the recovery time is so you can arrange for care for the appropriate time frame.
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Plan with your job what tasks you will be able to complete and for how long you must be able to leave work. Be sure you are reasonable when you make plans to cover some of your responsibilities. Recovery is not an easy process.
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Tips & Warnings
Laminectomy requires the removal of bone from the vertebral arch, clearing the space but also removing muscle points that can cause scarring on related tissue. This procedure often requires fusion at a later date.
Laminoplasty is when the Lamina arch is split in two to increase the available space. The gap can be filled with bone grafting or an implant.
Medial Facetectomy removes the inner part of the joint on both sides of the vertebrae to keep as much of the Lamina arch as possible. This is available as an endoscopic procedure as well, which means a smaller incision. This can only be used with a small area.
Inter-spinous spacers can be placed using a small incision on the back of the spine to restore some of the old spacing.
Most of the surgeries available require some sort of follow-up and eventual clearing of the spaces.
References
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