Spine Care
The spine clinic team provide the highest quality spine care in Montana. They specialize in the diagnosis and treatment of spine-related conditions that may be causing your back or neck pain. They understand how this pain can limit your activities and decrease your quality of life. Their goal is to work with you to relieve your pain and restore your mobility so you can enjoy life again through either surgical or nonsurgical treatment options.
Back or neck pain can often be treated without surgery. If surgery is deemed necessary, note that many procedures can now be performed using a minimally invasive approach.
ExcelsiusGPS Robot:
The spine clinic team uses a robotic guidance and navigation system for surgery. This technology is designed to improve safety and accuracy in the operating room. The ExcelsiusGPS provides improved visualization of patient anatomy through the procedure to help optimize patient treatment. The system is designed to streamline the surgical workflow and reduce radiation exposure to surgeons and staff.
Symptoms of Spine Disorder
If you are experiencing any of the following symptoms of spine, neck or back pain, it’s important to seek treatment as soon as possible before your injury or condition worsens:
- Disruption of sleep due to pain
- Persistent achiness or stiffness in the lower back after sitting for an extended period of time
- Stiffness of the neck and shoulders, especially in the morning
- Sudden, sharp pain in a localized area of the back
- Pain that affects posture while sitting, standing, or walking
- Joint pain or swelling in the neck and shoulders
- A popping noise or feeling in the back after straining or heavy lifting
- Weakness, numbness, tingling, or clumsiness of the arms or legs
- Loss of balance when walking
- Incontinence
- Sensory disturbance/sensitivity of the arms and legs
Spine
The spine is a highly complex and critical component of the human body, protecting the spinal cord while offering strength, structure, and flexibility. The spine’s ability to provide support and mobility simultaneously makes it more susceptible to injury. Since spine injuries can affect virtually any body part, there is a wide range of conditions and injuries encompassed by spine pain, thereby causing a wide range of symptoms. From scoliosis and stenosis to sciatica and herniated discs, spine pain can be the result of a serious condition.
Neck Pain
Pain in the neck is most commonly the result of four main causes: trauma to the cervical spine, poor posture, muscle strain, or degenerative disc disease.If you are experiencing cramping or tightening of the lower neck muscles, your neck pain may be emanating from poor posture or a muscle strain. Pain from injuries, overuse, and wear and tear can last for a few hours or days, or it can be a chronic problem that lasts for weeks or years.
In the event of a traumatic incident, whiplash can occur, which is when the neck is distorted or jerked by sudden force.
Back Pain
As one of the more common ailments affecting Americans, lower back pain can be categorized as acute, lasting only for a few days, or chronic if your discomfort is persistent and ongoing. The majority of back pain symptoms stem from inflammation due to an acute injury or age, loss of muscle elasticity, or loss of bone strength. Other causes of back pain include osteoarthritis, herniated discs, spinal stenosis, spinal deformities, and fractures. Understanding and adhering to proper posture and lifting techniques can help decrease your chance for sustaining a back injury.
You may experience some low back pain relief through nonsurgical remedies, such as massage therapy, acupuncture, rest, heat, ice, physical therapy, injection therapy. However, if your pain persists despite non operative treatment then surgical intervention may be necessary.
Spine treatments may include:
Cervical (Neck):
- Cervical Radiculopathy
- Cervical Spinal Stenosis
- Cervical Spine Anatomy
- Neck Pain
- Multilevel Posterior Cervical Laminectomy and Fusion
- Posterior Cervical Fusion
- Posterior Cervical Microforaminotomy and Discectomy
- Pseudarthrosis/ Non-Union Failed/ Previous Cervical Surgery
- Anterior Cervical Discectomy
- Anterior Cervical Corpectomy and Fusion
- Anterior Cervical Decompression and Fusion
- Cervical Total Disc Replacement
- Cervical Laminectomy
- Cervical Laminoplasty
Thoracic (Mid Back):
- Kyphoplasty
- Scheuermann’s Disease
- Compression Fractures
- Thoracic Disc Herniation
- Thoracic Spine Anatomy
- Spinal Cord Stimulator Placement
- Scoliosis
- Thoracic Spinal Fusion
- Thoracic Laminectomy and Decompression
- Pseudarthrosis/ Non-Union Failed/ Previous Thoracic Surgery
Lumber (Low Back):
- Low Back Pain
- Lumbar Spine Anatomy
- Anterior Lumbar Interbody Fusion (ALIF)
- Anterior Lumbar Corpectomy and Fusion
- Lumbar Degenerative Disc Disease
- Lumbar Disc Herniation
- Lumbar Discectomy
- Lumbar Facet Joint Arthritis
- Lumbar Laminectomy/ Neural Decompression
- Lumbar Spinal Stenosis
- Minimally Invasive Lumbar Microdiscectomy
- Instrumented Posterolateral Lumbar Fusion
- Posterior Lumbar Interbody Fusion (PLIF)
- Spinal Decompression
- Transforaminal Lumbar Interbody Fusion (TLIF)
- Spondylolisthesis Reduction and Fusion
- Lumbar Spondylolysis
- Pseudarthrosis/ Non-Union Failed/ Previous Lumbar Surgery
General Conditions of the Spine (not an inclusive list):
- Bulging and herniated discs
- Spinal stenosis
- Degenerative disc disease
- Scoliosis and congenital spine deformities
- Sciatica
- Whiplash
- Slipped vertebrae – spondylolisthesis
- Stress fracture – spondylolysis
- Sacroiliac joint pain
- Spondyloarthropathies
- Nutrition and your spine
Common Back Pain Treatments (not an inclusive list):
- Spinal lumbar fusion
- Artificial lumbar disc replacement
- Artificial cervical disc replacement
- Minimally invasive lateral access spine surgery
- Minimally invasive posterior fusion spine surgery
- Lumbar discectomy
- Kyphoplasty/vertebroplasty
- Anterior cervical discectomy and fusion (ACDF)
- Laminectomy
- Laminaplasty
- Microdiscectomy
- Spinal cord stimulation
- Epidural Steroid Injections