Numbness around the genitals or back passage, difficulty passing urine, or weakness in both legs needs emergency surgery within hours. This is cauda equina syndrome. Go to the nearest hospital now — do not wait, and do not arrange travel.
Microdiscectomy, lumbar decompression, fusion, cervical disc replacement and deformity correction at NABH and JCI accredited hospitals across Delhi NCR.
This is the specialty where we most often tell people not to have an operation. Spine surgery is genuinely transformative for the right problem and disappointing for the wrong one, and the difference is usually clear from the scan and the symptoms together.
Free. No obligation. A written opinion within 48 hours, including when it says do not operate.
This single distinction predicts your result better than the surgeon, the hospital or the implant, and it is the thing most often glossed over when surgery is being sold.
Responds well and often dramatically to decompression. Sciatica from a disc pressing on a nerve root is the clearest example, and microdiscectomy relieves it reliably.
Responds poorly to surgery. Fusion for ordinary degenerative back pain has disappointing results, and this is where most regretted spine operations happen.
Genuinely benefits from fusion, because there is a mechanical problem for the operation to correct.
Surgery here is about preventing deterioration rather than reversing it. Function already lost frequently does not return, which is why timing matters.
Changes the calculation entirely. These are reasons to operate sooner rather than wait, and cauda equina syndrome is an emergency measured in hours.
Ask your surgeon directly: what proportion of my pain is in my leg, and what improvement do you expect in my back pain specifically? A clear answer is a good sign. A vague one is not.
Degenerative changes on spinal MRI are extremely common in people with no symptoms at all, and the proportion rises with every decade. Disc bulges, desiccated discs, mild narrowing and facet arthritis are largely normal findings after middle age.
Radiologists report what they see. Whether those findings explain your symptoms is a clinical judgement, made by matching the level and side of the abnormality to where your pain and numbness actually are.
A scan showing changes at four levels rarely means four levels need operating on. Careful examination identifies which one, if any, is responsible.
There is a weak relationship between the severity of imaging findings and the severity of symptoms. Some of the worst-looking scans belong to people who feel fine.
Send us the scan and the report together with a description of exactly where your symptoms are, and we will tell you honestly whether the two match. Where they do not, an operation is unlikely to help you.
Each has its own page explaining what it is, what conservative treatment should be tried first, and at what point surgery becomes worthwhile.
Stays below assume an uncomplicated course in a patient without significant other medical problems.
A small opening is made and the fragment of disc pressing on the nerve is removed, relieving sciatica. It treats leg pain far more reliably than back pain, and that distinction is the most important thing to understand before agreeing to it. Most patients go home within two days and return to desk work in three to four weeks.
Bone and thickened ligament narrowing the spinal canal are trimmed away, giving the nerves room. It reliably relieves the leg pain and walking limitation of stenosis. Fusion is added only where there is genuine instability or slippage — and it is added far more often than the evidence supports.
Two or more vertebrae are joined permanently with screws, rods and bone graft. It is the right operation for genuine instability, significant slippage, deformity correction and after tumour or infection has destroyed bone. It is the wrong operation for ordinary back pain with a normal alignment, and that is where most inappropriate spine surgery happens.
For nerve or cord compression in the neck, the disc is removed from the front and replaced either with a fusion cage or an artificial disc that preserves movement. Disc replacement suits younger patients with a single level and preserved alignment; fusion remains the more versatile option where several levels or arthritis are involved.
Curvature is corrected and held with instrumentation along several levels. In adolescents it is performed for curves beyond a defined threshold that would otherwise progress; in adults it is usually for pain, imbalance and nerve compression. It is major surgery requiring intraoperative neuromonitoring and an experienced deformity team.
Clearing infected or tumour tissue, decompressing the spinal cord and stabilising the spine. Spinal tuberculosis is a common indication across our markets and is treated primarily with medication — surgery is reserved for cord compression, instability or progressive deformity rather than being the default.
The best spine surgeons decline to operate more often than the rest. A surgeon who agrees to every case that walks in is not selecting patients, and patient selection is what determines results in this specialty.
Deformity correction, cervical disc replacement and revision surgery are quite different skills. A surgeon doing your specific operation regularly matters more than general seniority.
Continuous monitoring of nerve and cord function during deformity and cervical surgery, so a developing problem is detected and corrected while it is still reversible.
Ask any surgeon two questions: what proportion of my pain do you expect to improve, and what would happen if I did nothing for six months? Honest answers to both are the clearest sign you are in good hands.
Spine surgery carries real risks — infection, bleeding, dural tear with leakage of spinal fluid, nerve injury causing new weakness or numbness, failure of a fusion to unite, and the need for further surgery. Adjacent levels can degenerate after fusion. And a proportion of patients continue to have pain despite a technically successful operation, which is the outcome nobody discusses enough. Ask your surgeon what improvement they expect for your specific pattern of symptoms, and treat confident promises made before your scans have been read as marketing.
Numbness in the saddle area, difficulty passing urine, or weakness in both legs. This is a surgical emergency measured in hours and must be treated at the nearest capable hospital.
Any weakness worsening over days needs assessment now, wherever you are. Delay costs function that does not return.
Discitis and epidural abscess need urgent local treatment. Travelling with an untreated spinal infection is dangerous.
We will say plainly that surgery is unlikely to help, rather than arrange an operation you will regret.
Instrumentation in unrecognised severe osteoporosis fails. Bone density should be measured before any fusion in an older patient.
Spine surgery is the specialty where we most often advise against an operation. Where the imaging does not match the symptoms, saying so is the most useful thing we can do for you.
A patient travelling for a single-level microdiscectomy, from first message to going home.
Frequently not. Most back pain settles without an operation, and most sciatica improves within six to twelve weeks with conservative treatment. Surgery is reliably useful for nerve compression causing leg or arm symptoms, for genuine instability, for deformity, and for infection or tumour. It is far less reliable for back pain alone. If you have been offered surgery for back pain with a normal alignment, a second opinion is worth having.
Because that distinction predicts the result better than almost anything else. Operations that decompress a nerve treat the symptoms that nerve causes — pain, numbness and weakness travelling down the leg or arm. They do considerably less for pain confined to the back itself. A surgeon who does not draw this distinction clearly is not preparing you for the likely outcome.
No, and it is added far more often than the evidence supports. Fusion is appropriate for genuine instability, significant slippage, deformity correction and after bone has been destroyed by infection or tumour. For straightforward stenosis with a stable spine, decompression alone gives comparable relief with a shorter operation, less blood loss and a quicker recovery.
Almost certainly some degeneration, and that is normal. Disc bulges, dark discs and mild narrowing are found in a large proportion of people with no symptoms whatsoever, and the proportion rises steadily with age. What matters is whether the findings match your symptoms — not the alarming words in the report.
Two to three weeks for a microdiscectomy, three to four for a decompression, four to six for a fusion, and six to eight for deformity correction. Add time for spinal tuberculosis, where medication is started and the response assessed. Bring an attendant — a medical attendant visa exists for this and we provide the letter.
Generally yes, once your surgeon confirms the wound is healed and you can walk and sit comfortably. Long flights soon after spinal surgery carry a risk of clots, so timing, compression stockings and moving regularly during the flight all matter. We plan the return date with the surgeon rather than guessing.
In the neck, artificial disc replacement is well established for suitable patients — a single level, preserved alignment and limited arthritis — and it preserves movement. In the lower back the case is narrower and patient selection more restrictive. It is not automatically better, and a surgeon who offers only one option cannot advise you neutrally.
Related pages: Spine surgery cost in India · Orthopaedics and joint replacement · Neurosurgery · All treatments · Medical visa guides
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