Back pain is one of the most common medical problems facing people in the U.S., and it can be debilitating for those who suffer from it. “It can take a patient with an active lifestyle and basically make them couch-bound where they can’t do anything,” says Dr. Kevin McCarthy, a spine surgeon at the Spine Center of Baton Rouge.
McCarthy treats patients with neck pain, back pain, and nerve pain, and he specializes in minimally invasive spine surgery. He has been in practice at the Spine Center of Baton Rouge for 13 years.
Traditionally, spine surgeries have been performed using large open incisions and they can result in significant blood loss, long hospital stays, and post-operative pain and disability. However, the trend has been moving toward more minimally invasive surgery—surgery that’s done with the same goals as open surgery, but through smaller incisions. As a result, the soft tissue envelope surrounding the spine is not as disrupted and patients can experience less post-operative pain, less blood loss, and shorter hospital stays. Read the full article.