Lumbar Spine Surgery

By: Peter F. Ullrich, Jr., MD

Two general types of lower back surgery comprise the most common lumbar surgical procedures: decompression and spinal fusion.

Decompression back surgery involves removing a small portion of the bone over the nerve root and/or disc material from under the nerve root to relieve pinching of the nerve and provide more room for the nerve to heal (a microdiscectomy or laminectomy).
Lumbar spinal fusion involves using a bone graft to stop the motion at a painful vertebral segment, which in turn should decrease pain generated from the joint. Spine surgery instrumentation (medical devices), bone graft procedures, and bone stimulators are sometimes used along with spinal fusion surgery.