Osteoporosis is a degenerative disease that can create a whole host of problems for patients. Among those problems are spinal compression fractures that create chronic pain and contribute to muscle weakness and poor posture. A potential solution is a procedure known as kyphoplasty.

According to Lone Star Pain Medicine in Weatherford, Texas, osteoporosis affects tens of millions of people in the U.S. alone. They say that hundreds of thousands of osteoporosis sufferers also experience spinal compression fractures. Lone Star offers kyphoplasty as a possible treatment.

Here’s the money question: why would a patient choose kyphoplasty over other treatments? Understanding what kyphoplasty is and how it works might answer the question for you.

Relieving Pain With a Balloon

Kyphoplasty is sometimes referred to as balloon vertebroplasty. Why? Because the procedure involves inserting a small balloon into a collapsed vertebra. The balloon does something that no other treatment is capable of doing – restoring the damaged vertebrae to its original size and position.

A Minimally Invasive Procedure

Kyphoplasty is considered minimally invasive because it doesn’t require major surgery. The balloon is inserted with a minimal incision of no more than an ancient length. Performing the procedure involves just six steps:

1. A small incision is made near the collapsed vertebrae.
2. The balloon is inserted with a use of an attached tube.
3. The balloon is then slowly inflated until the damaged vertebrae returns to normal size.
4. The balloon is removed, leaving a void behind.
5. Using a standard needle, the void is filled with bone cement.
6. The incision is bandaged and the patient goes to recovery.

A kyphoplasty procedure is considered outpatient medicine. An overnight stay is not required for most patients. As soon as the bone cement hardens, it provides the support the damaged vertebrae once provided before osteoporosis.

Other Options Are Less Restorative

Now that you know what kyphoplasty is and how it works, you might be able to guess why a patient would choose it over other procedures. The first reason is simple enough to understand: no other options are as restorative as kyphoplasty.

Pain medications do nothing for the damaged vertebrae itself. They simply mask pain. Surgical procedures are designed to provide structural stability to the spine, but they don’t restore the damaged vertebrae to its original size and position. Therefore, they are not as complete as kyphoplasty.

From a safety perspective, some patients simply prefer kyphoplasty over the other options. There is no chance of addiction or dependence with kyphoplasty. Such risks are a concern with some types of pain medications. As for surgery, its invasiveness always creates potential risks that some patients would rather avoid.

Long Term Outlook

Kyphoplasty’s long term outlook is yet another reason people choose the procedure over other options. Long term, a typical patient can expect:

• Pain Relief – Pain relief is rapid and substantial. Patients usually experience a significant reduction in pain within the first 24-48 hours. Pain relief lasts for as long as the same vertebrate isn’t damaged again.

• Mobility and Function – Restoring spinal integrity immediately improves both mobility and function. Over the long term, patients are able to return to previous levels of activity.

• Height Restoration – Kyphoplasty offers the benefit of height restoration. By restoring damaged vertebrae to their original size and position, kyphoplasty can also contribute to correcting spinal alignment.

Perhaps the biggest reason of all is that kyphoplasty improves a patient’s quality of life. Little or no pain, combined with improved mobility and function, allows patients to do what they used to do before osteoporosis began taking its toll. The same cannot be said about pain medications and invasive surgeries.