Symptoms and treatment of deformities of spine

Symptoms of spinal deformities

Symptoms of spinal deformities may be felt b an individual having the condition. Symptoms of scoliosis vary as most of the cases of infantile, juvenile & adolescent scoliosis do not produce any symptoms. Degenerative scoliosis is mostly accompanied with pain. Symptoms of sagittal imbalance vary from mild discomfort to a very severe pain. Deformities of spine also have the potential to interfere with nerve roots or the spinal cord. Compression or stretch of spinal cord or the nerve roots make symptoms which can include pain, numbness, weakness or even a tingling which travels down a leg or an arm.

Treatment of spinal deformities

For most of the part, the non operative treatment is recommended prior to consideration of the surgery. Non operative treatment includes the pain medicines, physical therapy & some braces.

Surgery is considered if:-

• Patients experience severe pain which does not ease down by bracing, physical therapy and/or pain medicines.
• Deformity of spine progresses
• Condition has resulted in a physical deformity which is not bearable to the patient.
• Condition results in compression of spinal cord or the nerve roots
• Deformity is a result of fractures, generally caused due to osteoporosis
• Deformity is of such a high magnitude that it may likely progress even once the skeletal development is complete

The objective of surgery is to relieve the symptoms & to align & stabilize our spine. But as the deformity of spine varies from 1 patient to another, no 2 surgical treatments are same. Experienced surgeons well determine the suitable treatments for every patient & the respective situation.

Alignment & stabilization of spine are complex procedures. The spinal alignment must be achieved from every angle & keeping a spine in stable position often needs implanting hardware i.e. rods and screws. If the deformity results in the compression of spinal cord or the spinal nerves, surgeons could do a decompression surgery. A laminectomy is 1 common kind of decompression surgery. In such as procedure, surgeons remove a part of bone known as lamina at the back of vertebrae. Removal of lamina gives more space for spinal cord & allows it to properly function.