Everything You Need to Know About Kyphoplasty for Vertebral Compression Fractures

Kyphoplasty treats compression fractures of vertebrae, a painful problem that affects many aspects of your life. Here’s a description of the problem, solutions, and your patient experience back to pain-free living.

Vertebral compression fractures (VCFs) are essentially injuries where bones of the spine collapse in on themselves, causing changes in your mobility and posture while also creating severe back pain.

Needless to say, VCFs can have a major impact on your life. Our team at Midwest Innovative Pain Management in Dyer, Indiana, can help with a minimally invasive procedure called a kyphoplasty, or sometimes a balloon kyphoplasty.

In this month’s blog, we share everything you need to know about kyphoplasty for vertebral compression fractures.

Kyphoplasty basics

The goals of a kyphoplasty procedure are to restore and stabilize collapsed vertebrae to relieve pain and recover lost mobility. It’s a minimally invasive technique during which we place a small surgical balloon or bladder within a compressed vertebra.

Inflating the balloon carefully restores the bone to its original dimensions, at which point a special cement fills the empty space and hardens, stabilizing the vertebra and relieving any compression on nerve tissue, which usually releases the pain symptoms.

Kyphoplasty can be performed under general or local anesthesia and takes about an hour for each bone treated.

Am I a candidate for kyphoplasty?

Kyphoplasty isn’t a treatment for every spinal pain issue. Common candidates for the procedure include:

Patients with osteoporosis-related vertebrae collapse
Vertebral fractures due to spinal tumors
Those whose pain conditions aren’t relieved by conservative treatments such as braces, medications, or rest

The sooner after the vertebral collapse you seek treatment, the better your prognosis is likely to be. Typically, we use X-rays and/or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to confirm bone collapse.

Benefits you can expect

Successful kyphoplasty provides a range of benefits, including:

Significant pain relief
Restored spinal stability
Improved mobility
Return of functional abilities
Restored vertebral height
Reduced or eliminated reliance on pain medication
Fast recovery time

Generally, kyphoplasty involves only common surgical risks, such as bleeding and infection. We also offer another procedure for VCFs called vertebroplasty, which is similar to kyphoplasty, but without using the balloon to restore bone shape.

Recovery from kyphoplasty

The procedure usually takes place in an outpatient setting. Pain from the VCF typically resolves quickly, and over-the-counter pain medications normally handle discomfort from the procedure.

We recommend a gradual return to normal activities, holding off on exertion and heavy lifting at first. We provide you with full aftercare instructions customized to your procedure and needs.

If your VCF is due to osteoporosis, we can help you with a condition management plan to prevent additional fractures.

Contact us at Midwest Innovative Pain Management when you have lingering back pain and risk factors that might contribute to compression fractures. Call or click to request an appointment today.