Joyce, Spine Patient
August 7, 2023
For over a year, Joyce, a retired Fresno teacher, suffered from debilitating back pain. When the pain refused to go away, her primary care physician ordered an X-ray that revealed a fracture in her spine. Her doctor quickly referred her to Saint Agnes Care Interventional Pain & Spine Specialist Dr. Jonathan Grossman for a balloon kyphoplasty procedures – a minimally invasive outpatient procedure in which a balloon is inserted into the fractured bone to relieve compression and give the bone time to heal properly.
"With the vertebroplasty or kyphoplasty procedure, patients can undergo a 15-30 minute outpatient procedure and return home the same day," Dr. Grossman says. "The vast majority of patients feel significant pain relief that day."
Joyce was being treated for osteoporosis – a condition that commonly contributes to spinal fractures, due to the overall weakening of a person's bone density and reduction in the amount of calcium that bones can absorb.
Like most patients who undergo the procedure, Joyce experienced relief for her symptoms without the stress of a more extensive surgery.
"The procedure went very well and I was able to go home after about three to four hours," Joyce says. "It's still a process and I feel relief in certain positions and continue to improve. I look forward to getting back to gardening when I can."
- Maintain good posture.
- Perform physical activity on a regular basis to stay active.
- Practice core strengthening positional exercises to train the body to be more stable while performing daily tasks (e.g. bending over to put shoes on, vacuuming or cleaning). Two good body mechanics exercises are planks and bridges for the core, for example.
- Take calcium and vitamin D supplements. If you have osteoporosis, supplement with an osteoporosis-specific medication to help build back bone integrity.
For more about this procedure, or to make an appointment with Saint Agnes Care provider Dr. Grossman, click here.