Joyce Hamrah regularly travels to Paris and Milan hunting down the latest fashions for her high-end clothing store. But, last year, excruciating back pain left Joyce completely incapacitated. Not only was she unable to fly, she could barely walk. “It’s like somebody sticking a knife in your back and then they start twisting it and then they start bringing it down one leg and then the other leg,” says Joyce.

Joyce Hamrah’s severe back pain was cured with surgery known as Posterior Lumbar Interbody Fusion.

Excruciating back pain had left Joyce completely incapacitated. Not only was she unable to fly, she could barely walk. “It’s like somebody sticking a knife in your back and then they start twisting it and then they start bringing it down one leg and then the other leg,” says Joyce.

Joyce had to really lean on her employees to keep her store operating. “I have a great staff of people here and everybody really kicked in and helped out because I couldn’t move, I couldn’t walk.”

Doctors discovered that Joyce had a cyst on her spine and some of her discs were slipping. She needed to re-stabilize her spine. Aggressive treatment was necessary. Neurosurgeon, Dr. Frank Moore of Englewood Medical Center, New York, performed Posterior Lumbar Interbody Fusion…also known as PLIF, on Joyce. “The procedure has been around for a while but it has been refined with different tools and material and so now we’ve reached a state of the art where we have a lot of success rate,” says Dr. Frank Moore.

Under general anesthesia, an incision 3-8 inches is made in the back, through the muscles down to the spine. The problem disc is removed which in turn removes pressure from the nerves. A spacer, or cage, is inserted into the space between the vertebrae where the disc used to be in order to maintain appropriate room for nerves to exit. Bone will grow through holes in the cages, fusing the vertebral body above the disc to the one below.
The spine becomes stable and pressure is taken off of the nerves.

“In order to use additional support, we use screws which support the vertebrae together and hold the fusion together in place so it will take,” says Dr. Moore. Candidates for the PLIF procedure include those suffering with degenerative disc disease, internal disc disruption, which occurs when there is a leakage of chemicals from a disc, or people who have an unstable spine.

According to Dr. Moore, the patient usually recovers in 3-4 days in the hospital but full recuperation can take up to 3 months. “The day after surgery, they’re walking, pain from the operation and incision is minimum,” says Dr. Moore.

Joyce says the surgery gave her-- her life back. She’s walking up and down stairs in her store, she’s on her feet interacting with her customers and she’s able to lift and move her merchandise.
“When you realize there is a world out there and you are going to go back to it, and participate, it is a very gratifying feeling, it really makes you appreciate everything you have,” says Joyce.

Pain and numbness could be experienced after the surgery. There is a risk of poor healing, or failure of the spine to fuse properly after back pain surgery. As with any surgery, Dr. Moore encourages all patients to do thorough research about the procedure and the experience of the physician you are considering.

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