Talking about Recovery with Your Spinal Fusion Doctor Baltimore

According to orthopedic surgeons who specialize in spinal fusion surgeries, patient selection is really key to obtaining good outcomes.  This is not to say that surgeons actively turn away patients who are poorer candidates for the surgery because they want their outcome numbers to look better.  It is more the case that offering this intervention to a patient for whom it is not well-suited can be useless for the patient, or even detrimental to their overall well-being.  The spinal fusion doctor Baltimore knows that this type of surgery is very safe from the perspective of mortality.  Less than one percent of patients have life-threatening complications from it each year in the United States.  The biggest risk is actually clinical failure, which simply means that the patient's pain and mobility issues are insufficiently resolved post-recovery.

Are You a Good Candidate for Spinal Fusion Surgery Baltimore MD?

If you are someone who suffers from back pain, particularly in the lower (lumbar) back area, and you have exhausted non- or minimally-invasive treatments to address your chronic pain, you may start to ask yourself if you would be helped by surgery.  There are two major factors that play into making someone a "good risk" for a fusion surgery.  The first of these is diagnosis.  There is not a whole lot you can do about your diagnosis.  But, it is important to make sure your medical team does an MRI scan to differentiate diagnoses that can benefit from surgery from those that cannot.  Degenerative disc disease is one of the most common diagnoses that justify a fusion surgery.

The second factor, commitment to recovery, is something over which you have more control.  This type of surgery requires a recovery period of three to six months, and sometimes as much as a year and a half.  Much of this time has to be spent in therapeutic activities to help the spine function properly post-fusion.  Patients who have the time, energy and desire to commit to this intensive kind of recovery program have the best outcomes.  Getting ready by being as healthy and fit as you can will increase your odds of being approved for, and having, a successful surgery.

Learn more about recovery from spinal fusion surgery Baltimore by clicking here.