Northbrook Back Surgeons

A pinched nerve is one key indicator that surgery might help ease your back pain, says orthopedic surgeon Dr. Eugene Carragee of highly rated Stanford University Medical Center in California. “If the surgeon tells you something as vague as, ‘You have disc degeneration and we are going to fuse multiple segments in your back,’ that is something to be worried about,” he says.

Spinal fusion procedures are on the rise, according to the CDC, but experts say not every patient is the right candidate for this type of back surgery.