JOPLIN, Mo. — Back pain can come in a wide variety of shapes and sizes.
And for some patients, there’s relief in a procedure called minimally invasive lumbar decompression, or MILD.
“A problem like just degenerative disc disease these discs start dehydrating because they’re not getting the blood supply that they need. Okay, what happens is, is as the disk starts to flatten now, your body tells the bony tissue to get a little thicker or to spread out a little bit,” said Dr. Roger Misasi, Int. Pain Mgmt.
The difference is just a few millimeters, but it’s enough to narrow the space around the nerve root and cause back pain.
“And under fluoroscopy or X-ray guidance, look at it like this under and take a device where we can shave off some of that ligament and a little bit of the bony tissue,” said Dr. Misasi.
The procedure, called a minimally invasive lumbar decompression, has been around for years. But advances in technology means it now takes just minutes to accomplish.
“If I can reduce your pain by 30 to 50%. If I get better than that great, but usually if you can get control of the situation that brought them in. They’re usually going to do pretty good,” said Dr. Misasi.
It’s a minimally invasive option to help improve back pain without major surgery.
“It’s not that that procedure is still working six or eight months down the road. It’s just that once you reduce that swelling of that nerve root and gave it a little more room, it’s going to start acting normal again,” said Dr. Misasi.
