Advanced Relief: How Minimally Invasive Surgery Fixes Post-Accident Back Pain

Accidents are notorious for causing and worsening back pain. While some symptoms are mild and temporary, others are severe and long-lasting — particularly without appropriate care. One study showed that 63% of people with chronic low back pain experienced a prior injury in a car accident.

If your own post-accident pain is intense, worsening, or lingering on despite conservative treatment, consider minimally invasive surgery.

Dr. Nicholas Perenich and his team at Spine Institute of Florida in Dade City and Spring Hill, Florida, diagnose and treat painful back conditions, including those following auto accidents. Here’s a closer look at these symptoms and how minimally invasive surgery can help.

Back pain after an accident

Back pain from an accident often stems from a sudden force or jolt straining your ligaments, muscles, vertebrae, facet joints, or tendons. Car accidents and workplace accidents also fuel back pain by compressing, damaging, or irritating nerves.

Injuries associated with post-accident back pain include:

• Facet joint injuries
• Herniated discs
• Ligament and muscle strains
• Nerve damage and compression
• Vertebral fractures

Your back pain may flare up immediately after the incident or hours or days later, due to gradually increasing inflammation. The adrenaline spike in your system during an accident can also mask or delay pain for 24 hours or longer.

How minimally invasive spine surgery helps 

Minimally invasive spine surgery accomplishes what many complex or “open” surgeries do, but without the same level or risk, pain, and recovery time. The procedures use special instruments to fix structural damage through tiny incisions, sparing surrounding tissue from trauma. Guided with technology like miniature cameras, they allow for very targeted precision.

At Spine Institute of Florida, our team provides minimally invasive surgeries using endoscopic and robot-assisted techniques. Our procedures that treat back pain include:

• Foraminotomy, which enlarges the passageway spinal nerves exit through
• Kyphoplasty, which uses a balloon and medical-grade cement 
• Laminectomy, which removes a portion of a vertebrae
• Microdiscetomy, which removes a herniated disk fragment

We also offer radiofrequency ablation, which uses targeted heat energy to disrupt pain signals, and epidural injections for reduced pain and inflammation.

As long as you have reasonable expectations and work with qualified experts, minimally invasive surgeries bring a high success rate for minimizing back pain and improving your mobility and quality of life.

To learn more about minimally invasive surgery for back pain or get started with personalized care, call Spine Institute of Florida or schedule an appointment through our website today. If it turns out you’re better suited for a complex spine surgery, our team is well-equipped to provide that, too.