Spondylolisthesis is a condition in which one of the vertebral bones slips forward over the one below it. Spondylolisthesis alters the alignment of the spine. As the bone slips forward, the nearby tissues and nerves may become irritated and painful. In older adults, degeneration of the disc and facet (spinal) joints can lead to spondylolisthesis. Spondylolisthesis from degeneration usually affects people over 50 years old.

There are different reasons to fuse the spine and different ways to do the fusion procedure. Surgeons are studying the results of fusion techniques to get an idea of which one works best for each problem. In this study, patients who had a spinal fusion for degenerative spondylolisthesis with one of three fusion methods are compared. Two of the fusion techniques used instrumentation such as screws or metal plates and screws.

Chronic pain such as you are experiencing is, indeed, more common than one might imagine. The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) estimates approximately 50 million people in the United States are chronic pain sufferers. Chronic pain is defined as pain that lasts three or more months longer than the expected time for healing.

Laminectomy is the removal of part or all of the lamina, a column of bone that helps form an arch around the spinal cord to protect it. Spinal stenosis is the narrowing of the spinal canal, the long tube where the spinal cord goes from the brain down to the end of the spine. Anything that can narrow this space can put pressure on the spinal cord or spinal nerve roots. Cutting away the lamina opens up the spinal canal and takes pressure off these neural structures.

A recent study was done investigating patient satisfaction with health care for chronic low back pain. They found that the majority of patients were satisfied with their care. The number of visits didn't seem to affect satisfaction. Those who weren't happy didn't attribute their dissatisfaction with their health care provider. They might not have felt they got an adequate explanation of their problem, so decided to seek other opinions.

More and more, patient satisfaction is becoming an acceptable outcome measure of treatment. However, when potentially addictive medications such as narcotics (e.g., Oxycontin) are involved, the physician recognizes that there are other factors to consider.

No one doubts that patients with chronic low back pain have pain and even an underlying cause for that pain. But what to do about it can be a baffling challenge. Scientists, researchers, doctors, and physical therapists have not been able to find one individual treatment that's most effective for chronic back pain sufferers.

There aren't very many studies directly comparing these two forms of exercise. But there are literally hundreds of studies supporting the use of ANY physical activity or exercise for your better health. Even 10 minutes of exercise twice a day has been shown to help.

Yoga is a meditative practice based on the Hindu philosophy centered on training the mental, verbal, and physical aspects of life. The discipline started in India around Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism. But it has spread to the western world where it is more likely to be practiced as a form of physical exercise without the philosophic or religious focus.

As with many cases of nonspecific low back pain, even when there's a known cause (car accident), tests are negative and no known anatomical reason exists for the pain that continues past the time of healing. Many patients like you who find themselves in this situation expect a medical doctor somewhere to figure out what is wrong and fix it. They have become weak and deconditioned. Their quality of life has plummeted. They feel they have nowhere else to go.