What is Vertiflex?
The Vertiflex Procedure Superion Indirect Decompression System is a cutting-edge, minimally invasive treatment for lumbar spinal stenosis.
Many Pacific Sports and Spine patients find their spinal stenosis symptoms improve using conservative treatments like physical therapy, medication, and spinal injections. For others, these approaches fail to achieve much improvement, which is where Vertiflex comes in.
Your provider at Pacific Sports and Spine inserts the Vertiflex implant into your spine via a slim endoscopic tube. As this requires just one small incision, you experience considerably less pain and heal much faster than you would with surgical spinal stenosis treatments like laminectomy.
Other benefits of Vertiflex compared with open surgery include a lower risk of postoperative complications and fewer instances of spine destabilization.
What is spinal stenosis?
Spinal stenosis can develop as a result of changes in your spine that lead to a narrowing of your spinal canal. Possible causes of spinal stenosis include:
- Osteoarthritis and bone spur development
- Herniated discs
- Thickened ligaments
- Spinal injuries
Your spinal canal is a channel formed by your vertebrae that protects your spinal cord. Many nerves are coming off your spinal cord and spreading out into your body, and any narrowing of the spinal canal is likely to compress them.
Consequently, you may experience typical spinal stenosis symptoms such as lower back, buttock, and leg pain. You might also get numbness, weakness, cramping, or stiffness, depending on which nerves are under pressure.
Spinal stenosis pain can make it painful to stand and walk, but the pain often eases if you sit down and bend forward.
How does Vertiflex work?
Vertiflex is an implant that fits between your vertebral bones. The implant acts as a spacer, making room for the nerves in your spinal canal.
The effect is similar to what you experience when you sit and lean forward so the pressure eases off your spinal nerves. This is known as indirect decompression. The results can last for five years in some cases, making it a convenient, lower-risk alternative to surgery.
The Vertiflex implant comes in a range of sizes, so your provider at Pacific Sports and Spine can find one to fit most patients' varying spinal anatomies.
If you have spinal stenosis and Vertiflex sounds like it could be the answer to your problems, call Pacific Sports and Spine to schedule a consultation or book an appointment online today.
