(air whooshing)
- Welcome to Living Healthy Chicago,
I'm Jane Clauss.
We wanna kick off today's show
checking out the latest innovation in medicine
that's making pain relief,
easier than ever for people dealing with a herniated disc.
So let's meet a man who says he's back on the move
after struggling with pain.
(air whooshing)
Kelly Bodway has always led an active lifestyle.
- We're a very active family, we all like to go on hikes
we travel around the country,
we like to do rock climbing, horseback riding.
- [Jane] So when he started feeling some pain,
he was concerned about what it meant for his lifestyle.
- I started having some pretty severe pain
going all the way down my legs,
when I stood up, it was just constant.
I began to be very limited
in the amount of time that I could walk,
the time that I could stand,
you end up, you know kind of getting depressed a little bit
- [Jane] After struggling for about a month,
he tried physical therapy to find relief.
When that didn't help, Kelly went to the doctor
where he was diagnosed with a herniated disc.
- The biggest thing that I was being faced with
with missing is not being able to have fun,
I really wasn't ready to give up any of that stuff.
- [Jane] Kelly tried managing his pain with injections,
but they didn't bring him enough relief,
so the next step was surgery.
- I was referred to Dr. Lee,
I didn't really like the idea of,
the traditional method of this type procedure
where they actually drill a small hole
through your vertebrae
so they can gain access
and be able to clear the material out
from the herniated disc, because I was afraid
that that would weaken, you know, my spine.
- [Jane] So Dr. Lee shared with Kelly
that he had the option for a new type of procedure.
- Dr. Lee first explained what a person is dealing with
when they have a herniated disc
- A herniated disc is when the natural cushion
of the spine begins to bulge,
and it can bulge as a result of aging, wear and tear
or injury to the disc itself.
When it just bulges the bulge can actually pinch a nerve
causing back pain, leg pain, numbness, or weakness.
- And so how does this new procedure help
- Using the endoscope which has a camera,
the size of a number two pencil,
we're actually able to reach into the spine
and remove the disc herniations
to get the pressure off the nerve.
This leads to smaller incisions,
less pain and quicker recovery times.
In the past traditional discectomies
where clients were being removed disc herniations
involves removing a substantial proportion of bone
to get to where the nerves are,
using an endoscope we're able to slide into the spine
due to natural bonny openings
without having to remove much any bone at all.
This potentially avoids future problems with incivility
with can happen with excessive bone removal
as part of this surgery.
- Can you tell us how Kelly did with procedure
and a little bit about his case
- After surgery Kelly told us
that his pain went away immediately
and that he didn't require any pain medications afterwards.
- It was really amazing, the pain was completely gone
in my mind, the surgery went amazingly well,
it was really a miracle
- [Jane] After some follow-up appointments
and physical therapy,
Kelly is back on the move.
- We've already been hiking, you've got energy,
you can go do those things, you feel good,
all that kind of works together.
- What do you hope people learn
when it comes to dealing with the herniated disc?
- If you have significant back pain
leg pain, numbness, or weakness,
you should talk to your doctor
to see if you have a disc herniation.
If it's determined that you do have a disc herniation
the good news is that there is now
endoscopic spine surgery to treat these problems
with smaller incisions,
less pain and quicker recovery times.
- So the person has got the right situation
that they could benefit from this,
and I would say, don't even hesitate,
get it done and get back to your life.
- Check out even more innovations in medicine
just head to our website, livinghealthytv.com.