Stop turning your back on back pain

Generally ignored as a symptom of tiredness, chronic back pain could indicate something more serious, such as an osteoporotic vertebral fracture. While healthy diet and active lifestyle can keep bones strong, innovative medical procedures, such as Balloon Kyphoplasty can help treat and manage osteoporotic spinal fractures in severe cases.

Data suggests that osteoporotic compression fractures affect millions of people globally. Chronic back pain, which is often mistaken as fatigue, is strongly associated with vertebral fractures, leading to functional loss, disability and poor quality of life. Known to cause more than 8.9 million fractures annually, osteoporosis is a generalised skeletal disorder of low bone mass (thinning of the bone) and deterioration in its architecture.

With the rise in the number of youngsters leading sedentary lifestyles, poor eating habits and using tobacco, osteoporosis is no longer a disease of the aging population. According to experts, it’s not just weakening bones, but another very important aspect of osteoporosis - the “silent” vertebral fractures - that produce no obvious symptoms to the patient in its early stages. As per research studies, approximately 30-50 per cent of women and 20-30 per cent of men develop vertebral fractures and half of them develop multiple fractures during their lifetimes, compared with a 15.6 per cent lifetime risk of a hip fracture.

In advanced stages, these silent fractures may involve compression (or flattening or crushing) of the vertebrae, and can result in Kyphosis (curvature of the spine) and chronic back pain, and may be associated with an increase in morbidity. In fact, vertebral fractures are one of the most common causes for back pain. Non-surgical treatments include bed rest, medication, lifestyle management, physiotherapy and caution. In case the damage to the vertebrae is much beyond the scope of non-surgical treatment, it becomes inevitable to get it corrected through surgery.

Surgical treatments include Balloon Kyphoplasty, a minimally invasive surgery technique in which a small incision is made to get to the problem area which ensures low levels of trauma to the tissues, tiny incision, and better blood supply to the operated area. Dr Manohar Reddy, neurosurgeon, Apollo Hospital, Hyderabad, says, “Balloon kyphoplasty, which restores the compressed spine and stabilises the fracture, is a safe option for patients.

In Balloon kyphoplasty, typically, two balloons are used, one on each side of the vertebral column, to support the bone in a better way as it moves back into position and increases the likelihood of deformity correction.” The advent of novel medical technologies such as these brings hope to many patients while assisting surgeons to achieve the desired results with the least possible complications and trauma, say experts.