SearchExclusive.com

Diseases & Conditions,Health & Lifestyle

A brief overview of spinal fusion surgery

A spinal fusion surgery is performed to connect two or more vertebrae in your spine so that there is no motion between them. The spinal fusion is designed in such a manner that it imitates the normal healing process of the fractured bones. During the surgery, the surgeon will place a bone like material between the two vertebrae that stops further movement of the bones. The spinal fusion surgery is designed to immobilize the spinal cord for a natural healing process.

The spinal cord has 33 bones and each of them plays a significant role in your movement. But because the spinal fusion surgery affects a few of those important bones in your spine, it will alter the way you move. An unfortunate result of this operation is that the other vertebrae in your spinal column will face more stress. Those vertebrae are then likely to deteriorate at a faster rate.

Why is a spinal fusion surgery performed?
The fusion of two or more vertebrae in the spine help increase its stability. It also helps in the healing process after an accident and corrects deformities. The surgeons only recommend spinal fusion surgery in the following cases.

Broken vertebrae: If you fracture the vertebrae in the spinal column, there are chances that it gets healed by itself. All fractures do not require a spinal fusion surgery. But, if the broken vertebrae make the spinal column unstable, then a spinal fusion surgery will have to be performed.
Deformities: A spinal fusion surgery can prove to be extremely beneficial if you are suffering from a spinal column deformity. The surgery corrects several deformities like scoliosis (sideways curving of the spine) and kyphosis (abnormal round shape of the spine).
Instability of the spinal column: If there is an extreme motion between two vertebrae, the spinal cord can become unstable. This is a common problem faced by patients who have spinal arthritis. This surgery helps in improvement of the stability.
Spondylolisthesis: This is a disorder where in one vertebra falls forward onto another vertebra causing severe pain and nerve crowding. A spinal fusion surgery stops this movement to help treat this disorder.
Herniated disk: If you have a herniated disc, then after a successful hernia surgery, a spinal fusion surgery is recommended by the doctor to stabilize the spinal cord.

Risks involved
A spinal fusion surgery is normally a safe surgery, but it does carry some potential complications. Sometimes the area may suffer an infection, blood clotting, bleeding, poor healing, an injury to the nerves around the spinal cord, or even pain from where the bone graft was taken.

Preparation before the surgery
This mainly involves cleaning the surgical site of hair and washing it with antiseptic soap. Make sure you speak to your doctor about your ongoing medications as you may have to avoid certain medicines before the surgery.

The surgery
You will be given general anesthesia before the spinal fusion surgery, which means you will be unconscious throughout the process. The surgery can be performed with various techniques and depends on the location of the affected vertebrae. The surgery usually involves the following course of action:

Incision: The surgeon usually makes an incision in one of the few most common locations, the abdomen, the throat, the neck, or the back. The location of the incision usually depends on the location of the vertebrae to be fused.
Bone graft: The bone grafts that help in fusing the two vertebrae together generally comes from the bone bank or your own body. If the bone graft comes from your own bone then it usually comes from the pelvis area.
The process: To fuse the two vertebrae together the bone graft is placed between the vertebrae. Screws and metal plates are used to hold the bone graft in place so that the two vertebrae heal over them.

There are cases where the synthetic graft is used in place of the bone graft. The synthetic material promotes the growth of the vertebrae and speeds up the healing.

After the surgery
The patient has to stay in the hospital for two or three days after the spinal fusion surgery. The stay normally depends on the complications in your surgery. You will experience pain and uneasiness after the surgery, but painkillers are administered to lower these problems. Talk to your doctor if you witness any sign of infection like fever, redness, inflammation, swelling, shaking chills, and pus from the wound even after you head home. It will take a long time to heal and fuse the vertebrae. You will have to wear a brace for some time to keep a good posture. You will have to start afresh and learn how to sit, walk, stand, and perform daily chores.

Related Reading

Tips for Buying the Best Dog Food

Most of the dogs do not have a food fuss and may eat almost anything that you feed them. Dogs are not choosy at all when it comes to food and nutrition. Hence, it is important to make sure that the food that you are purchasing for your dog is healthy. The landscape of dog food has been developing by leaps and bounds in recent times. There is a wide variety of options to choose from in the online and offline market. Given the wide range of options that are available today, buying the best dog food might seem to be a confusing task indeed. All the commercial pet food that is available in the market today is regulated by the FDA. Therefore, most of the products do contain nutritious, healthy, and safe ingredients. But it does help to know certain basic factors you should look for while buying food for your dog. Prioritize on the nutritional guarantee The best dog food, which meets the dog’s needs adequately has a statement written on the label of the product, from the Association of American Feed Control Officials. Buy from some of the best dog food brands, such as Fromm Family Foods, Earthborn Holistic, Nature’s Variety Instinct, and The Honest Kitchen.

Different Types of Kitchen Cabinets Available for Your Home

The most important aspect when designing your kitchen is deciding on the type of cabinets. In addition to functionality, kitchen cabinets score on aesthetics as well. Once the layout is planned, you can go ahead with choosing the cabinets. If you’re remodeling your home or just the kitchen, what you need to consider are the types of cabinets that furnish your kitchen. Here are a few types of kitchen cabinets that you can choose from. Base cabinets These kitchen cabinets are mounted on the floor and they are placed after checking out the floor plan. A major part of your job in the kitchen is on these base cabinets, which hold and support the countertops. These base cabinets are combined to carve out kitchen islands. A number of base cabinets are fused/set against one another and installed on site. The base cabinets, in addition to supporting the countertops, serve as drawers to hold your cutlery and appliances. Wall cabinets Mounted on the walls, these cabinets can store everything, right from your cookware to cookbooks. In terms of design, they offer utmost flexibility. Wall cabinet kitchen is available in varying heights, multiple widths, and custom depth options. This customization helps you to fit in your stuff of varying shapes and sizes into the wall cabinets.

How to Pick the Right Dog Food for a Sensitive Stomach

In today’s world, where you are presented with over a dozen choices for every item you would purchase for your own kitchen, it is not surprising that you have an equal number of options for your dog’s food. However, choosing the perfect brand and formula for your dog out of a range of options in the market is not an easy job. Your pet depends on you and trusts you to make the right choice for them. Therefore, it is imperative that you do your research about the products available in the market, understand what your dog needs, know what might be your pet’s problems, and then make a sound decision. What is a sensitive stomach? Dogs are known to have voracious and large appetites. Keeping that in mind, it is normal to assume that they have strong stomachs. They can eat close to anything be it sweets, bakes, chewy gum, hard leather or even woolen socks for that matter! It always so happens that the strongest of them are prone to allergies and can develop a disorder which is medically translated as a sensitive stomach. This might be due to a sudden change in the food habits or even due an infection picked up from somewhere.

All You Need to Know about Cat Food

For cat owners, cat food is a hot topic. You need to think about it in different aspects. The best thing is to know which ingredients are good for cat food and which are harmful. If you are aware of this, you can get an idea about the quality of the cat food just by going through the label. It is always sensible to stick to one brand of cat food. However, you may also want to try and prepare cat food yourself. There are also various options for wet cat food as well. Cat’s love for fish is universal, so you can do without going for expensive cat food. Nevertheless, whether you buy it or prepare cat food at home, you need to ensure that the food contains enough nutrition and calories. You would need to have some idea about the ingredients that must be present in cat food and make a worthy selection for your cat. Basic ingredients present in good cat foods Cats need a variety of nutrients to stay healthy and active; they need various vitamins, minerals, fats, proteins, and oils. The following is a brief explanation of the basic ingredients that should be present in cat foods.