Dec 5, 2008 5:35 pm US/Eastern
Straightening Out Your Back Problems
Common Back Pain Causes Include Nerve And Muscular Problems, Degenerative Disc Disease, And Arthritis
FORT LAUDERDALE (CBS4) ―
Back and neck pain costs the U.S. economy $50-billion annually. Anywhere from 50-80% of Americans will have disabling back pain at some point in their lives. Many times the pain is ignored, but not treating it can lead to serious problems, including paralysis.
Frank Delisi is one who can walk a bit easier these days, but just last year he was close to becoming a paraplegic.
"What happened was I took this fall, a very nasty fall and landed on the back of my neck," explained Delisi.
He got up from that accident and felt fine. But later, the commercial pilot was flying an airliner when the real problems began.
"Just prior to arriving in Portland, Oregon I became paralyzed with 175 people on the airplane," recalled Delisi.
His arms were tingling, his fingers were numb and then he lost all feeling in his arms and legs. After a visit to the ER, a friend told him about the
South Florida Spine Clinic where he learned what he was facing.
According to Delisi doctors advised him, "You're going to need emergency spinal cord surgery now. You will be a paraplegic in a couple of days."
"If he did not fix it he would not be walking now nor would be able to use his hands possibly be unable to feed himself or even handle a wheelchair," said orthopedic surgeon Dr. Jeffrey Cantor with the South Florida Spine Clinic based in Fort Lauderdale.
Dr. Canto performed a laminoplasty on Delisi, a procedure that opens up space in the spinal cord to relieve pressure. According to Dr. Cantor, "His neck moves better now than it did before the operation because of ways that we've modified these techniques and it works it works quite well."
Not everyone will need surgery when they have neck or back pain, but identifying symptoms and treating them immediately is critical to recovery.
"When they're walking their balance starts to get off or they may just have tingling, numbness, burning in their hands, cramping in the hands things like that. It's fixable it's treatable and its preventable don't wait 'til it gets bad fix this before you're in a wheelchair," explained Dr. Cantor.
Delisi spent several months in physical therapy retraining muscles just to be able to pick up a pencil.
While his case is extreme, Dr. Cantor said constant back and neck pain could lead to permanent injuries so get a proper evaluation from a specialist.
To reach the South Florida Spine Clinic call 954-771-2551 or visit their website by
clicking here.
(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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