Spine
surgery

Chronic back pain can severely impact your mobility, overall health, and quality of life. Debilitating back pain has a wide range of potential causes. For example, some of the common causes of back pain that might need surgical repair include:

• Osteoarthritis
• Bone spurs
• Herniated discs
• Spinal stenosis

These conditions cause localized pain in your back and can also compress your spinal cord or peripheral nerves, causing pain, numbness, and weakness throughout your body. 

In most cases, Dr. Kuwamura attempts to treat these conditions with spinal injections, regenerative medicine, medication, and physical therapy. However, when nonsurgical treatments aren’t effective, he offers state-of-the-art spine surgery.

At MD Spine Care and Orthopaedics, Dr. Kuwamura offers a wide range of spinal surgeries to address the variety of injuries and degenerative conditions that cause chronic back pain and radiculopathy (nerve compression) symptoms. 

Some of the innovative surgeries offered by Dr. Kuwamura include:

• Anterior cervical discectomy and fusion (ACDF)
• Extreme lateral interbody fusion (XLIF®)
• Anterior lumbar interbody fusion (ALIF)
• Mobi-C® cervical disc replacement
• Medtronic METRx™ system tube
• iFuse Implant System®

Depending on your condition and needs, Dr. Kuwamura might recommend incorporating regenerative medicine into your surgery to support the healing process and enhance your recovery.

Before releasing you from the hospital, Dr. Kuwamura provides personalized aftercare instructions to help you recover safely at home. 

For example, you wear a back brace for a few weeks to support and stabilize your spine during your recovery. Dr. Kuwamura also prescribes medicine to prevent infection and manage any post-surgical pain.

You begin physical therapy soon after your surgery. Initially, your physical therapy focuses on keeping your back supple so that as you recover, you can work to restore your strength, flexibility, and range of motion. 

Dr. Kuwamura might recommend having regenerative medicine treatment such as platelet-rich plasma (PRP) injections or stem cell therapy to support your recovery.

If you have chronic back pain that hasn’t responded to noninvasive treatments, call MD Spine Care and Orthopaedics or make an appointment online today to learn about your options.