Kyphoplasty (Balloon Vertebroplasty)

A vertebral compression fracture can leave you in long-term and even severe pain that worsens the longer you stand, leaving you stuck in bed in order to get even a little relief.

These fractures that can happen due to a weakening of your bone density and strength, an injury or tumor, or even simply when you cough or get out of bed in the morning lead to vertebra that splinter, break, and even collapse into your surrounding spinal tissue.

The pain they cause can steal your motion and your quality of life.

At Cahaba Pain and Spine Care, our Board Certified Pain Physicians are experts who specialize in Kyphoplasty, a procedure that leverages the power quick-setting, bone-friendly cement to support and strengthen your damaged vertebrae, so that you can finally put the pain of a compression fracture behind you.

To help you determine if Kyphoplasty is right for you, we’ve broken down the most common questions patients have about the procedure, including how it works and what to expect both during and after your procedure.

What Is a Kyphoplasty and How Can It Help Me?

While some doctors use a procedure known as vertebroplasty for compression fracture treatment, our expert team at Cahaba Pain and Spine Care has seen the power of Kyphoplasty to change lives for the better.

While both procedures use a specialized cement to help restore the strength of your fractured vertebra, Kyphoplasty takes that repair process a step further, allowing you to achieve significantly higher pain relief in addition to its other benefits.

In Kyphoplasty, your pain specialist first utilizes tiny, injectable balloons that allow for expansion of the fractured vertebral space. This targeted work actually restores height to the vertebra that have been damaged prior to the injection of the bone-strengthening cement.

This allows for both pain relief and a restoration of the height you lose due to a compression fracture.

What Can I Expect During the Procedure?

Prior to your Kyphoplasty, you will be given an IV with medication to keep you relaxed and comfortable. You will then be asked to lie on your stomach and your doctor will use x-ray guidance to insert a small hollow needle into the targeted space.

Once the needle is inserted, your specialist will inflate the small balloon to expand the damaged space and fill it with the bone-friendly cement. Since the procedure is minimally invasive, you will remain awake and aware throughout, and no stitches are needed.

Depending on the number of compression fractures you have to be treated, your Kyphoplasty will generally take between 30 and 60 minutes.

What Happens After My Kyphoplasty?

Once your procedure is completed, you are moved to a recovery area where you will rest and be monitored. Patients are usually discharged home an hour or two after the surgery, and you will need a driver to take you home.

The area of your procedure will need to be kept clean and dry, but you will be able to resume normal activities, as long as you avoid lifting heavy weights.

What Are the Results?

Although you may experience immediate relief following your Kyphoplasty, it generally takes 48 hours before to notice significant reduction or even complete elimination of your pain.