Can an MRI Reveal the Cause of Your Back Pain?

Lower back pain can have many different causes, from a muscle or ligament strain, arthritis, or osteoporosis, to more drastic causes like a tumor impinging on a nerve or a ruptured or herniated disc. 

Cervical arthroplasty, also called artificial disc replacement, is a surgical procedure designed to remove a herniated or otherwise damaged disc in the neck and insert an artificial implant to replace it. At St. Charles Spine Institute in Thousand Oaks, California, we perform this minimally invasive surgery to help patients to alleviate chronic neck pain. Unlike fusion, this procedure doesn’t limit the range of motion in the joint. What’s more, the recovery time is usually fast, and the patient’s risk of developing herniations in adjacent discs is very low.