Kyphoplasty restores height and stability to vertebrae affected by compression fractures.

The procedure involves carefully raising the vertebra to a more normal height before filling it with bone cement.

Kyphoplasty not only stabilizes your damaged vertebrae, but it also resolves the often severe pain compression fractures in your spine can cause.

Kyphoplasty is a treatment you might need if you suffer one or more vertebral compression fractures.

Vertebral compression fractures can be a result of trauma but are very often due to osteoporosis. This condition leads to a loss of density in your bones that makes them weaker and more likely to break.

Osteoporosis is most likely to develop in postmenopausal women, primarily due to a drop in levels of the hormone estrogen that occurs after menopause. Osteoporosis sometimes affects younger people, and men can also get osteoporosis.

The disease weakens your vertebrae to the point they can collapse. Most often, the collapse occurs on the front of the vertebra, while the back stays the same. This wedge-shaped fracture pattern causes one of the main symptoms of advanced osteoporosis, the dowager’s hump.

More properly known as kyphosis, this problem reduces height and causes the upper back to develop a pronounced curve.

The first stage of performing kyphoplasty is to raise the compressed side of the vertebra. To achieve this, your surgeon at Texas Neuro Spine inserts a special balloon into the vertebra through a small puncture in the skin on your back.

Using a special kind of moving X-ray called fluoroscopy to guide them, your surgeon feeds a slim tube into the hole and up to the damaged vertebra. The balloon or bone tamp goes up the tube as well, then when it’s in position, your surgeon inflates it very gently to ease the collapsed side of the vertebra open.

After removing the bone tamp, your Texas Neuro Spine surgeon fills the cavity with bone cement. The process takes between 1-2 hours for each vertebral level.

You might experience immediate relief from back pain, or it could take a few days. Recovery time is minimal, but you should avoid heavy lifting and strenuous activities for about six weeks.

Find out how kyphoplasty could help you put vertebral compression fracture pain behind you by calling Texas Neuro Spine today or book an appointment online.