How to Repair a Disc in the Lower Back

Degenerative disc disease commonly afflicts the discs in the lower back, known as the lumbar region of the spine. Treatment for his disorder, which will affect most adults at some point, normally consists of pain management and other supportive therapy. Doctors will typically perform the surgical repair of a lumbar disc only as a last resort, as it can permanently hamper the patient's mobility.

Instructions

• 1

  Undergo a microdiscectomy to alleviate the compression of a spinal nerve. In this procedure, the surgeon excises the portion of a herniated disc that impinges upon the root of a spinal nerve, with the goal of relieving pain rather than restoring functionality.

• 2

  Use fusion surgery to relieve the pain caused by the lumbar vertebrae moving against each other. This procedure involves attaching a bone graft between adjacent vertebrae so they'll grow into a single bone. This surgery works best when the surgeon only fuses two vertebrae together.

  Fusion surgery most commonly joins the fifth lumbar and first sacral vertebrae, which has little effect on the patient's mobility. Another common fusion, that of the fourth and fifth lumbar vertebrae, will affect the patient more dramatically, as this segment normally has significant range of motion.

  Use a fusion of three vertebral segments only in limited circumstances. A surgeon will normally perform this procedure only for patients in severe pain, as it will also dramatically reduce the patient's mobility. Surgeons will not normally consider the fusion of more than three segments as an option.

• 3

  Replace a damaged disc with an artificial disc. This procedure is gaining in popularity, as it offers the best chance for actually restoring functionality to the lumbar spine. An artificial disc can provide a better range of motion than the other procedures and may also reduce stress on the other spinal segments. However, physicians do not yet fully understand the long-term effects of disc replacement.