How Does the mild® Procedure Treat Lumbar Spinal Stenosis?

Anyone who can get through life without back issues is a lucky person indeed. The reality is that 75% of people will experience back pain at some point in their lives, and many find their lives limited by the problem.

A perfect example of this is those who are dealing with lumbar spinal stenosis (LSS), which is present in about 11% of adults in the United States.

If you're part of this group and you have symptomatic LSS, we don’t need to tell you that relief is a top priority. What our team of spine experts here at Commonwealth Pain & Spine does want to tell you is that we offer an excellent solution — the mild® procedure.

Here’s a look at what we’re up against when you have LSS and how the mild procedure solves the problem.

Lumbar spinal stenosis — of all the nerve

With LSS, there’s a narrowing in your spinal canal that compresses sensitive nerve roots in your lower back. This narrowing is most often caused by bone spurs on your vertebrae and thickening ligaments in and around your spine.

While LSS may not be symptomatic for some, for those who develop problematic nerve compression, the pain can be significant. It often starts as pain in your lower back, buttocks, and legs that can be relieved when you bend forward.

As the narrowing continues and the nerves become more irritated, this pain can become more constant, and being on your feet, hunched over or not, becomes increasingly difficult.

Finding relief from your lower back pain with mild

When we perform the mild procedure, our primary goal is to relieve the nerve compression in your lower back. To do this, we remove tiny bone and ligament fragments from your vertebrae. 

Using advanced imaging technology, we first figure out which pieces to remove to free up your nerves, and then we make a tiny incision — about the size of a baby aspirin— in the identified area.

Using specialized tools, we go through the space and remove the fragments necessary to restore spinal space.

The many benefits of the mild procedure

If you’re a candidate for the minimally invasive mild procedure, there are some key benefits that we want to bring to your attention, such as:

• We perform mild on an outpatient basis — you’re free to go home afterward
• We perform the mild procedure in about an hour
• We use local anesthesia, not general anesthesia
• We don’t make any structural changes to your spine
• We reduce your need for medications
• Most patients resume normal activities within 24 hours

Topping these benefits off is the fact that the mild procedure has proven to be effective in helping people to move freely again. One study concluded that the mild procedure is not only safe but also “Showed excellent long-term durability, and there was no evidence of spinal instability through 2-year follow-up.”

To learn more about the mild procedure and whether you might be a good candidate, your first step is to schedule an appointment at one of our 21 locations in Kentucky, Indiana, and Illinois.