Anne Justad took a fall at home and later that evening became stiff with sharp pain that made her nearly immobile. Osteoporosis had caused her bones to become so weak and brittle that everyday activities, such as bending over, became difficult.

Justad’s pain, she later discovered, was caused by small fractures in her spine, also known as vertebral compression fractures (VCFs).

“The pain was so bad, I couldn’t do anything,” Justad said. “I could not bend over or walk as far.”

Increased risks for VCFs

Justad isn’t the only one at risk for spinal fractures. A recent report issued by the Surgeon General noted that by 2020, half of all Americans over age 50 will be at risk for fractures from osteoporosis or low bone mass.

The National Osteoporosis Foundation estimates that 700,000 vertebral compression fractures occur annually due to osteoporosis in the U.S.

Alarmingly, an estimated twothirds of all spinal fractures go undiagnosed or untreated due to the absence of symptoms or difficulty determining the cause of symptoms, leading some to call osteoporosis a “silent disease.”

Traditional treatments for patients with spinal fractures include bed rest, medication and back bracing. While these therapies may help to decrease a patient’s pain over time, they do not treat the deformity related to osteoporotic fractures.

If left untreated, one fracture can lead to others, which may create a curvature of the spine called “kyphosis,” sometimes referred to as “dowager’s hump.” Over time, this curvature becomes more pronounced, painful and debilitating.

There’s hope

Once he diagnosed Justad with a spinal fracture, Dr. Donald deGrange, an orthopedic surgeon in Thousand Oaks, told her about a treatment called balloon kyphoplasty, a minimally invasive procedure designed to repair spinal fractures.

The procedure can be performed under local or general anesthesia and typically takes less than one hour to treat each fracture. In some cases, it may require an overnight hospital stay. More than 100,000 patients have been treated with balloon kyphoplasty, which in most cases is covered by Medicare and other insurance.

Balloon kyphoplasty can restore vertebral body height, significantly reduce back pain and increase mobility, often shortly after the procedure. In addition to reducing pain, patients experience an increased ability to return to simple, everyday activities such as walking, reaching, bending and lifting.

“Before balloon kyphoplasty my pain scale was a 9 (out of 10),” said Justad. But after the procedure, “it has gone to a zero. The pain relief was immediate.”

It’s important to determine the underlying cause of back pain. A complete physical exam, X-rays and MRI will help determine whether or not a spinal fracture is present. Although the complication rate with balloon kyphoplasty is low, there are risks, including serious ones. Discuss the risks with your doctor.

For details about balloon kyphoplasty, please visit www.hyphon.com or call deGrange at (805) 497-8616 or visit his office at 3366 Thousand Oaks Blvd.