Many have suffered from back pain spreading down to one leg, reaching the calf or the back of the foot, some experiencing pain behind the knee joint, calf pain, or numb toes after playing sports, mistakenly thinking it’s muscle inflammation. However, when carefully examined with an MRI, it’s found to be a disease of the spine compressing the nerve. Doctors will recommend medication, physical therapy, or reducing pain without surgery “Intervention”. This method reduces the need for pain medication by injecting anti-inflammatory drugs into specific nerve spaces, reducing radiating pain along the nerve. It is used to treat spinal nerve compression diseases due to degeneration and spinal movements compressing nerves at the neck or waist. Another method is using high-frequency radio waves to burn spinal joints, treating chronic back pain and chronic neck pain from degenerated spinal joints without nerve compression, which often has deep pain in the middle of the neck, shoulder, or back. If the back pain is so severe that daily life is impaired, the MIS technique is recommended, which is a microscopic surgery with a small incision, reducing the risk of nerve damage with a tool for monitoring the nervous system during surgery or IONM (Intraoperative Neuromonitoring).
Intervention, when comparing the treatment of spinal diseases with the “Intervention” technique, can be compared to treating coronary artery disease with the same “Intervention” technique by inserting a catheter and dilating the coronary arteries without surgery, which is widely accepted as effective, especially in patients whose coronary arteries are not severely constricted and do not yet need open-chest heart surgery.
The treatment of back pain from spinal conditions without surgery, the “Intervention” method, thus becomes another option in alleviating pain effectively in cases where the pathology does not severely compress the nerves, and pain persists. Internationally, doctors often offer it as an option for patients who cannot tolerate the pain before deciding on surgery.
A significant advantage is that “Intervention” is a treatment that costs less than surgery and does not require hospitalization. In Thailand, there are many patients suffering chronic pain from abnormal spinal conditions compressing the nerve, and not compressing the nerve, who reduce pain by taking medication or physical therapy instead of surgery that might not be necessary and could be too risky compared to the existing pain.
Therefore, treatment with “Intervention” becomes another option to reduce pain from spinal nerve compression, which will help those patients improve their quality of life without having to take pain medication daily
Enjoy the Move by Bangkok International Hospital
