Back Pain

Rhizotomy for Back Pain

There are a variety of treatments available for back pain such as exercise, yogaphysical therapy, auto puncture and surgery. Each of these treatments is based on the nature of the disease. In case of mild back pain doctors prefer to give medicines or injections but in some cases, the back pain may be very severe and it’s difficult for the patient to manage it. In such cases rhizotomy is one of the treatments to relieve the pain of the patient.

What is Rhizotomy ?

Rhizotomy for back pain is a sort of surgical treatment in which an electric current is used to burn some of the nerves of the body that give the feeling of pain. By blocking these nerves, pain gets relieved immediately. Rhizotomy is used when the person facet joints begins to deteriorate causing severe pain.

Rhizotomy

When to use Rhizotomy for Back Pain?

Rhizotomy is used after the confirmation by the doctor that the pain is caused by facet joints. If epidural injections for facet joints give positive results then it means that the problem lies in the facet joints and it’s the time to apply the Rhizotomy to the patient.

Procedure of Using Rhizotomy for Back Pain

In order to do Rhizotomy for the back pain, the patient is given mild anesthesia so that he may not feel any pain caused by injecting the needle in to the body. After giving anesthesia, doctor injects a fine needle along with micro electrode in to the body and x-ray machine tells the location of the needle. After getting assured that the needle has reached to the right point, doctor sends a radiofrequency current in to the electrodes that burns various nerve endings and the pain get stuck in the joints.

The whole procedure usually gets completed with in 30 to 60 minutes. After completing the whole treatment, doctor monitors the blood pressure of the patient for an hour or so and the patient may go home the same day.

Is Rhizotomy painful ?

Many people have misconceptions about the Rhizotomy that it’s very painful but reality is quite different. The patients, who have gone through the process of Rhizotomy for back pain, say that it is just like applying injection to the body. The patient does not feel any pain during the whole procedure but there is only mild pain after 24 hours of the process when the effect of anesthesia diminishes.

Is Rhizotomy for Back Pain Safe ?

Rhizotomy is completely safe as long as the doctor is competent. Injecting a needle in right position is a very difficult job as if needle goes to any other place then it may lead to a severe damage, sometimes the disability of the lower portion of the body so always use the services of an experienced doctor.

Risks of Rhizotomy

Some of the risks involved in Rhizotomy include swelling, infection, itching and pain in the area of treatment. In some cases the risks are very high such as paralysis, nerve damage and blood loss but they are very rare and only happen due to inappropriate technique or inexperienced doctor.

Related Articles

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Back to top button