“Vertebral Fracture: Why Surgery is Necessary for Better Healing and Long-Term Health”

2023-05-22 04:40:05

In the case of the wrist and femoral neck, the matter is clear: it has to be operated on, otherwise it won’t heal well. What about the broken vertebra? Is an operation necessary, especially since it just hurts a lot? Yes, it is, because there are diseases in which conservative therapy is much more dangerous than surgery (for example, also in the case of acute appendicitis). The course of an untreated (“conservatively treated”) vertebral fracture can lead to more complications and even death in the long term.

evidence in medicine
When there are different therapies for an illness or an injury, one tries to find out which form of therapy is “the best”. The different procedures are compared in terms of success, risks, long-term consequences, etc. The more accurate and thorough this comparison is, the more evident the result and the clearer the recommendation for the respective form of therapy.

In spinal medicine there is no procedure that has a similarly high level of evidence as the surgical treatment of osteoporotic vertebral fractures using balloon kyphoplasty. The studies have proven that surgical treatment is superior to conservative therapy in all respects.

A vertebral fracture is not just about the pain – this can get better after a few weeks or months without an operation, but about the spine as a whole: it becomes crooked and the person gets smaller. As a result, the volume of the lungs decreases: you get bad air. The probability of dying as a result of a vertebral fracture is three to four times higher without surgery.

Is spinal surgery dangerous?

An operation on the spine is no more dangerous than that on a femoral neck fracture. The vertebrae also do not have to be stiffened, because with the minimally invasive (gentle) vertebral body straightening (balloon kyphoplasty), the mobility of the spine is completely retained. This is why vitamin D is so important, because vitamin D not only strengthens bones, but also strengthens muscles and reduces the risk of falls and thus the risk of fractures in older people.
In the case of intense back pain after a minor accident or spontaneously, which does not improve within a week, a vertebral fracture must be considered in patients over 60 years of age.