2.5 surgery a closer look at minimally invasive spine procedures the 2.5 centimeters -centimeter by carla carwile I t was a full extension during a Pilates workshop that told K.A. Brenner she was in big back trouble. The occasional twinge she’d felt after “lifting something I knew I shouldn’t” escalated into constant pain. “The radiologist called my images ‘nondefinitive,’” Brenner says. “I didn’t have a blown disk—it was just bulging, an extrusion. But many people have that and, in itself, it’s not predictive of pain.” Thus began a six-month journey for solutions. Brenner tried general physical therapy and therapy specifically targeting reduction of the disk known as L5 S1—the last flexible disk before the large sacrum shield at the end of the spine. When that proved ineffective, she saw a chiropractor. Then came two series of three injections to diminish the pain and reduce the extrusion. Those were followed by two blocks where a pain-killing agent was injected into the facet joints surrounding the problematic disk. Then came the rizotomy, a procedure using radio frequency to target compressed nerves. The pain persisted. > vim & vigor • s p ri ng 2009 7
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Vim & Vigor - Spring 2009