How Much Time Do I Have to Take Off to Get Spine Surgery

One of the biggest concerns expressed by spine surgery NYC patients is that they cannot afford to take too much time away from work, family, and other endeavors. Fortunately, while no surgery is without downtime, modern procedures have streamlined the recovery process, making it possible for patients to get treatment and return to work with as little downtime as possible.

Downtime by Procedure

Patients who need surgery to treat routine spine conditions have two major choices: open back surgery, and laser surgery. During open back surgery, the spine is accessed by peeling skin, muscle, and other tissue away from the back in order to gain access to the spine. In contrast, laser spine surgery uses minimally invasive techniques, endoscopic cameras, and laser technology in order to access the spine using only one or two small incisions. This results in a much smaller wound, which helps lead to a greatly reduced recovery time. One of the biggest advantages of laser spine surgery is that is allows patients to return to work in only a fraction of the time of traditional back surgery.

Patients with desk jobs can return to work sooner than patients in physically strenuous occupations. This is because people with strenuous jobs must be completely healed before returning to work, while people with desk jobs can return as soon as it is comfortable to get through a full workday. Depending on your job and type of surgery, you should:

• Plan for about a week away from work if you are undergoing laser surgery and have a desk job
• Expect about 6 weeks away from work if you have a physically strenuous job and will be treated with laser surgery
• Allow for about 4-6 weeks away if you have a desk job and will be undergoing traditional spine surgery
• Expect several months away from work if you have a physically strenuous job and will be undergoing traditional back surgery

However, only your physician can give you a firm estimate of how much time you should schedule away from work. At your spine surgery NYC preoperative appointment, your doctor will give you an estimate based on your prior health, occupation, and the exact procedure being performed.

Minimizing Time Away

While some downtime is unavoidable, one key to minimizing time away from work is to follow your doctor's recommendations regarding self-care in the days and weeks surrounding your procedure. Doing so will hasten healing and reduce the risk of complications. Helpful habits include:

• Stop smoking
• Walk as much as is comfortable after surgery
• Be vigilant about physical therapy
• Do not touch your surgical wound unless necessary, and do not allow friends or family to touch your wound
• Follow your physician's instructions regarding wound care
• Take the full course of any prescribed antibiotics

In addition, patients with health issues such as diabetes, autoimmune disease, or heart disease may need to follow special instructions. Before your spine surgery NYC procedure, your physician will take any preexisting conditions into account when creating a recovery plan.

Effective treatment for chronic pain is associated with a lower incidence of insomnia, weakened immune system, depression, and anxiety. The effects on the overall quality of living are broad and remarkable. After recovering fully, patients are able to return to their previous activity level, including exercise and physically strenuous hobbies. No longer burdened by chronic pain, patients have more energy to give to activities such as cooking and spending time with family and friends, which their pain may have prevented in the past. After returning to work, patients tend to find that their productivity increases.

To learn more about your options for spine surgery NYC, please call the Datta Endoscopic Back Surgery and Pain Center at (347)-380-9138