Compression Fracture Treatment: Is Kyphoplasty a Permanent Fix?

Each year in the United States, there are between 1 and 1.5 million vertebral compression fractures, which tend to strike women far more often than men. In fact, about a quarter of women aged 50 and older develop a compression fracture in their spine thanks to bone loss.

While not all compression fractures require treatment, some can lead to problems with pain, as well as issues with appearance as the vertebrae collapse. In these cases, kyphoplasty is often a treatment of choice because it does a great job of remedying the problem, long into the future.

As a pain management practice, Dr. Naveen Reddy, Dr. Maziar Massrour, and the rest of the skilled team here at Apex Pain Specialists are well aware of the many different roads to back pain. And we have solutions for them all. When it comes to back pain related to compression fractures, we’ve got you covered with kyphoplasty, which we explore below.

The problem with compression fractures

As the name suggests, a compression fracture isn’t really a typical fracture in which a bone breaks and you set it with a cast. With compression fractures, which usually occur in your thoracic and lumbar spine, the vertebra (or vertebrae) lose bone density over time and begin to break down. As the bone fractures, the vertebra can start to collapse inward.

Not only can compression fractures lead to pain, they can also lead to physical changes. People with compression fractures in their spine can lose height and even develop a hunch in their back.

As we discussed, compression fractures occur far more in women because they lose bone density at a much faster rate after they pass through menopause. To put some numbers to this, women can lose 20% of their bone density during and immediately after menopause and 1 in 2 postmenopausal women will develop osteoporosis.

Restoring height and strength to your spine through kyphoplasty

While some people aren’t bothered by compression fractures, many do encounter symptoms, such as the pain and changes in their physical appearance we outlined above.

In these cases, we’ve had great success with kyphoplasty, a procedure in which we may be able to  approximate the vertebra its original height.

To do this, we insert a balloon into your collapsed vertebrae, using minimally invasive surgical techniques. Once the balloon is in position, we inflate it so that it pushes your vertebra up to a better height and shape. From there, we inject cement into the space we’ve created and remove the balloon.

The bone cement hardens quickly and most of our patients are free to go home the same day. While there's some recovery — you need to take it easy for a week or two and avoid heavy lifting and strenuous activity for at least several weeks — you should feel better very quickly. In fact, up to  92% of people who undergo a kyphoplasty report pain relief after the procedure.

And better still, you can enjoy this pain relief for the foreseeable future as the work we do during your kyphoplasty is permanent.

If you’d like to explore whether a kyphoplasty is a good route for relieving your compression fracture symptoms, we invite you to call our office in Chandler, Arizona, at 480-820-7246 or book an appointment online with Apex Pain Specialists today.