Spine Surgery

Back and neck pain can range from minor annoyance to so debilitating everything else in life becomes a secondary concern.

In severe cases it can even lead to permanent disability or loss of movement or feeling below the injured area.

We offer the latest advances in a variety of treatment options including pain management, rehabilitation and innovative, state-of-the-art surgery to correct or alleviate many of these problems and allow individuals to live a productive and active lifestyles.

Our Surgeons Treat a Wide Variety of Spine Issues

Comprehensive care for acute and chronic conditions

The physicians at Nebraska Medicine provide comprehensive care for the treatment of acute and chronic conditions of the spine including congenital spine problems, degenerative and traumatic conditions of the cervical, thoracic and lumbar spine. Some of the conditions treated include:

• Degenerative disc disease
• Degenerative joint disease
• Disc herniations
• Neck and back pain
• Neck fractures
• Neck surgery
• Kyphosis
• Herniated discs
• Osteoarthritis
• Osteoporosis fractures
• Sciatica
• Scoliosis
• Spinal injections
• Spinal deformity
• Spinal stenosis
• Spine fractures
• Spondylolisthesis
• Trauma

One of the primary benefits of the spine care we provide is that all care is coordinated in one central location from diagnostics to pain management, surgery and outpatient rehabilitation. The patient works directly with a nurse case manager who collects all of the necessary patient information and tests before an appointment is scheduled with the provider or surgeon.

We Start with the Most Conservative Approaches

The spine team's primary goal is to make patients well without surgery. Conservative measures will be tried first including anti-inflammatory medications, physical therapy or referral to a rehabilitation or pain management specialist. Pain management may include therapies such as epidural steroid injections, trigger point injections, facet injections or nerve blocks. If these therapies do not provide adequate relief and the pain prevents you from living the quality of life you’d like, surgery may be the next step to consider.

Complex Minimally Invasive Surgical Procedures

Our spine surgeons specialize in performing minimally invasive and image-guided complex spine procedures. Minimally invasive techniques use small incisions, provide quicker recovery, shorter hospital stays and are generally safer.  Whenever possible, our surgeons will use minimally invasive techniques, even for the most complex surgeries. This includes surgeries for scoliosis correction, motion-sparring procedures like disc replacements, cervical and lumbar problems, lateral lumbar infusions and for benign and malignant spine tumors.

Our surgeons perform several surgeries that are unique in Omaha, including

Neck Deformity Surgery

Done nowhere else in the area, our spine specialists perform surgeries to correct neck deformities. This procedure involves reconstructing the entire neck from front and back. Bone cuts are made to correct deformities and discs are removed and replaced with implants.

Transforaminal Lumbar Interbody Fusion (TLIF)  

This minimally invasive procedure is performed on patients with disabling back pain and leg. The procedure involves fusing the front and back columns of the spine by entering from two small incisions in the back. The spine is stabilized by replacing discs with screws, rods and bone grafts.

Microdiscectomy

This is a minimally invasive procedure used to remove herniated disc material from the back that is pressing on a nerve root or the spinal cord.

Laminectomy 

This minimally invasive surgery enlarges your spinal canal to relieve pressure on the spinal cord or nerves. It creates space by removing the lamina — the back part of the vertebra that covers your spinal canal.

Revision Surgeries

Surgery for spine conditions can be extremely effective. However, it takes a skilled spine surgeon to determine the right surgery, in the right area, at the right time. The specialists at Nebraska Medicine perform many revision surgeries on patients who initially received care elsewhere and are referred here because their problem was not corrected with previous treatment or their problem was only partially addressed.

To prevent repeat surgeries, the spine specialists educate the patients about their conditions, possible treatment options and how these treatments will address their major complaints.