Back pain is second only to headache as the leading cause of pain. Virtually everyone will have at least one episode of significant back pain at some point in their life. In the U.S., back pain is the:

• No. 1 cause for employee absence

• No. 1 reason for doctor visits

• No. 1 cause for healthcare expenditures

• No. 1 ailment cited for workman’s compensation claims

Spinal surgery is one way surgeons treat back pain. Surgical treatments come in many forms: lumbar spinal fusion, cervical spinal fusion, total disk replacement, just to name a few. They are all designed to help limit pain. Each surgery is different depending on whether you are trying to treat degenerative disc disease, spondylolisthesis, or another condition.