Herniated disc back surgery laminectomy is often recommended for injured workers with wear and tear spinal stenosis. Workers’ compensation insurance company doctors usually say spinal stenosis is a degenerative condition unrelated to an injured worker’s job duties. McCormick Law Office attorneys seek the best results for injured workers and we do not accept the insurance company denial based on an independent medical exam or IME. Spinal stenosis can result from a work-related disc bulging into the spinal canal or bone spurs aggravating the nerves causing pain.
If the disc is bulging or herniated, a partial discectomy may be done at the same time. The lamina is the back area of the vertebra that covers the spinal canal.
The surgeon takes out any disc fragments and scrapes off nearby bone spurs. In this way, the nerves inside the spinal canal are relieved of additional tension and pressure. The surgeon also enlarges the neural foramina, if needed, the small openings between the vertebrae where the nerves travel out of the spinal canal. A laminotomy removes a portion of the lamina whereas a laminectomy is the complete removal of the lamina, both designed to create space and take pressure off the spinal nerves.
Each spinal segment includes two vertebrae separated by an intervertebral disc, the nerves that leave the spinal cord at that level, and the small facet joints that link each level of the spinal column. The facet joints on the back of the spine normally give enough stability, even when the lamina is taken off. But these joints may have to be removed if they are enlarged with arthritis or are pushing on the spinal nerves. When the facet joints must be removed, additional back surgery (a fusion) may be needed to fix the loose segment.
