If you’re asking whether facet disease surgery can be beneficial for you, it’s best to turn to your physician for advice. He or she has personal knowledge of your medical history and can give you a more individualized answer. Here, we will give you a general idea of the usual criteria used to determine if someone should consider facet disease surgery.

How severe are your symptoms?

Minor to moderate symptoms can sometimes be more of an annoyance than a debilitating problem. Due to the underlying risk of any type of surgery, if you find that your symptoms aren’t greatly affecting your everyday life, surgery probably isn’t for you because the risks outweigh the room for improvement. However, if your symptoms are interfering with how you work, play, complete household chores or run errands, surgery may be a potential solution.

Have you tried conservative treatments?

Many people who seek facet disease treatment find that their symptoms improve after weeks or months of nonsurgical treatments. For this reason, you should attempt other methods before resorting to surgery for relief. Some of the more commonly used methods include taking medications, exercising and avoiding activities that irritate the affected area. Because it often takes multiple therapies and time for patients to see results, patience is key. If, however, you haven’t found relief despite trying these methods, surgery may be able to help.

How is your overall health?

If your symptoms are severe and ongoing, surgery may seem like a promising route for you. Spine surgery, as with all surgeries, requires the patient to be in a relatively healthy state overall. There are often recommendations for the patient to quit smoking or lose weight (as applicable) before surgery to limit risk and improve healing. Some people who are very advanced in age or have other severe health conditions may be advised to avoid surgery due to the inherent risks.

If you’d like to research facet disease surgery, you can turn to USA Spine Care. As the leader in minimally invasive spine surgery, we offer a safer and effective alternative to traditional open spine surgery.^{^} Contact USA Spine Care today to learn more about our minimally invasive surgeries.

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