Suffering from Back Pain? Here’s How to Advocate for Your Own Wellness Without Surgery.
The following is adapted from The Back Pain Solution by Michael Hasz, MD, FACS.
When I was a young surgeon in training, spine surgery was undergoing a paradigm shift. I just didn’t know it at the time. The days when back surgery involved putting you in a body cast for weeks or even months at a time were being put behind us. As an Air Force orthopedic surgeon at Andrews Air Force Base back then, we were just starting to use high-tech imaging and surgery that was far less invasive — and we could see how much better the results were for our patients.
Today, our diagnostic capabilities have improved. Technology such as an MRI lets us visualize the spine in amazing detail. At the same time, surgical treatment options have dramatically improved. We can now treat spine problems with better, safer methods using very small incisions that heal quickly. The latest developments in stem cell and other nonoperative treatments are being shown to work and are increasingly available to patients. The future will bring even more improvements, such as remote robotic surgeries performed by surgeons who could be anywhere in the world.
The treatment of spine problems today with nonsurgical options has become so effective that 80 to 90 percent of the patients I see don’t need surgery at all. I can fix their back problems holistically, using nutrition, weight loss, physical therapy, exercise, and other lifestyle changes.
Where We Are Today
For decades, spine surgery was big surgery. To reach the spine, we had to make large incisions. After the surgery, some patients were immobilized for weeks in plaster casts that went from their knees to their chest. Complications such as blood clots were common; the immobilization meant tremendous loss of muscle tone and a long recovery period. Even worse, quite frequently, the surgery was not very helpful.
The development of minimally invasive surgery (MIS) changed all that. We now have ways to operate using microscopes and tiny instruments that are inserted through much smaller incisions — incisions so small that they may not even need stitches to close them. Other developments, such as artificial discs, bone cages, titanium screws, and other implants have shortened recovery times dramatically. Lasers let us treat many spine conditions without cutting through muscles and ligaments, leading to even smaller incisions and even faster recovery. Today, many of my surgical patients are up and walking almost as soon as they’re awake. They usually go home the same day or after just a night or two in the hospital. Immobilizing casts are almost unheard of now.
Spine problems can now be diagnosed quickly and very accurately. X-rays, which have been around for well over a century, are still an important tool for imaging the spine, but we also use much more precise methods. The CT scan, which is just a more sophisticated X-ray, gives us a more detailed look at the spine. MRI scans provide amazingly detailed images, particularly of the nerves, discs, and other soft tissues. We use DEXA scans to detect osteoporosis and use diagnostic injections to see disc problems or find other causes of pain. SPECT scans can find microfractures of the vertebrae. We also now use 3D reconstructions to help plan complex surgeries. Robotic surgery, which relies on accurate imaging, is becoming increasingly common. The guesswork that was once part of spinal surgeries is gone.
In the operating room, I can see all the preoperative images on a monitor in addition to seeing what I’m doing at the moment. In fact, for some surgeries, I use a very sophisticated version of a computer game console, including the joystick. It’s sort of like playing a video game, except instead of racking up points, I rack up extremely accurate procedures.
What all these developments mean for patients is that surgery can often be avoided. When it is necessary, I know exactly where to go on the spine. The procedures are safer, less painful, have a much faster recovery time, and are a lot more likely to help.
Avoiding the Cost of Chronic Back Pain
According to the World Health Organization, 80 percent or more of all adults will experience back pain at some point. Most will have an acute episode and get over it within a few weeks, but for about 20 percent, back pain becomes chronic. Back pain that doesn’t go away is a huge burden for both individuals and the medical system. It’s one of the top reasons people miss work or can’t do all the normal activities of daily living, and it’s the second-leading cause of disability. Back pain is also hugely expensive. Americans spend nearly $50 billion a year on direct treatment costs for back pain. Another $100 billion in indirect costs comes from lost productivity and wages and other expenses.
Back pain isn’t just costly in economic terms. It has a major impact on your life that can’t be measured in dollars and cents. Back pain costs you a lot of personal time. It’s the third-leading cause of visits to the doctor. It’s a major cause of time off work — and enough time off work can force you into a different job or derail your career track. You might end up on disability or forced into early retirement. You could put a number on those costs, but you can’t put a number on missed vacations or time you spend in pain instead of with your friends and family. You can’t put a number on the way back pain can take you away from the things you enjoy and even limit you in the activities of daily living.
In this book, I’ll teach you how changes to your diet and lifestyle can help keep your back pain from becoming chronic and requiring surgery. I’ll explain the nonsurgical alternatives, such as physical therapy, stem cell injections, and even acupuncture. If you do need surgery, I’ll explain why, what the options are, and help you prepare for a good outcome and quick recovery. I’ll also discuss specific types of minimally invasive surgery in detail, so you know what approach is best for you and what to expect. And I’ll discuss the pros and cons of the latest precision laser surgical and robotic techniques.
My goal with this book is to educate you to be an effective advocate for your own wellness. I want to give you the power to affect your diagnosis of chronic back pain in a positive way. When other approaches haven’t worked, the minimally invasive surgical option is often the best choice, even if you’ve had previous back surgery or have been told you’re not a good candidate for surgery. Today, we can offer tremendous hope for helping chronic back pain and returning you to a full and active life.
To learn more about how to manage back pain non-surgically, The Back Pain Solution is available on Amazon.
A nationally recognized spinal specialist, Michael Hasz, MD, FACS, is a spinal surgeon at the Hasz Spine Institute in Reston, Virginia, and was listed among the country’s top 1 percent of physicians in his specialty by US News & World Report. A former major in the US Air Force, Dr. Hasz was chairman of the department of orthopaedic surgery and director of spinal surgery at the Andrews Air Force Base/Malcolm Grow Medical Clinics and Surgery Center. He currently holds an appointment as clinical instructor of orthopaedic surgery and assistant professor of surgery at the Uniformed Services University of Health Science in Bethesda, Maryland.
