Simi Valley Hospital | Living Well | Winter 2015-2016

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SIMI VALLEY HOSPITAL OFFERS RELIEF FOR NECK AND
BACK PAIN CLOSE TO HOME
ONE OF THE MOST COMMON MEDICAL ISSUES —affecting millions
of Americans of all ages and walks of life—is neck and back pain. Depending on its
severity, this type of pain can range from mildly annoying to debilitating, robbing a
person of the ability to work, move around and enjoy life.
Simi Valley Hospital has launched a new spine surgery program to help people
with neck and back pain get the medical care they need close to home. The
program focuses on issues related to the cervical spine, thoracic spine and lumbar
spine, as well as scoliosis and deformity surgery.
Among the procedures available are ALIF (anterior lumbar interbody fusion) and
XLIF (extreme lateral interbody fusion) for spinal fusion, anterior cervical discectomy,
lumbar microdiscectomy, cervical and lumbar disc replacement, posterior cervical
and lumbar laminectomy, and cervical vertebral corpectomy.
A kinder cut
“One of the newer approaches that have revolutionized back and neck surgery is
minimally invasive surgery,” said Simi Valley spine surgeon Alen Nourian, MD. “With
this type of surgery, incisions are much smaller, and there is less blood loss, less
tissue damage, faster recovery and a shorter hospital stay. In many cases, patients
are able to walk out of the hospital within a day of surgery and resume their normal
activities much sooner than was possible in the past.”
Dr. Nourian emphasized that people who are living with a long-term back or neck
issue should not hesitate to talk with their primary care physician about treatment.
“Back and neck pain should not be a problem you just have to live with,” he said.
“There are many options to get relief. Your doctor can help you decide which is best
for you.”
Find relief from back and neck pain. Go to
hover over “Services,”
and click on “Spine Services” to learn more
about how Simi Valley Hospital can help.
When do I need to call
a doctor?
With neck or back pain, it’s sometimes hard to decide
whether to treat it at home or seek medical help.
Typically, if you take an anti-inflammatory medication
like Motrin (as long as your stomach can tolerate it),
you should see improvement within 1½ to 2 weeks.
Contrary to popular belief, you should not stay
in bed for more than one day; it’s important to
remain active during this time.
Simi Valley spine surgeon Alen Nourian, MD,
suggests making an appointment to see your
doctor if any of these situations occur:
•The pain doesn’t go away within two weeks.
•The pain gets worse instead of better.
•You experience pain in your arms and/or legs
that gets worse.
•You find yourself losing control of your
bowels or bladder.
If you lose all control of your bowels or
bladder, skip the doctor and go straight to the
emergency room.
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