A compressed spinal nerve in your neck can cause chronic and debilitating symptoms. When you have an impinged nerve, your doctor will likely begin with conservative, non-surgical treatment options, such as physical therapy, pain medications, rest, exercises, restorative yoga and others. Unfortunately, these conservative treatments do not work for everybody, and they only work to alleviate the symptoms rather than treating the underlying cause of them. When non-surgical options fail to work, your doctor may then recommend less conservative treatments, including open back surgery. As an alternative, you might want to consider a minimally invasive surgical procedure from the Spine Institute Northwest. 
Compressed nerve symptoms
A pinched spinal nerve that is caused by compression may have the following symptoms:
- Muscle weakness
- Tingling
- Numbness
- Chronic pain
When you have a compressed nerve, the space surrounding the spinal nerve root is reduced by inflamed tissue, herniated or bulging disc material or bone spurs. The resulting compression of the nerve root can lead to significant discomfort and the other symptoms. While conservative treatments may work for some people, they are ineffective for others.
When the conservative treatments are no longer working and your pain is severe, your doctor may recommend that you undergo surgery. Minimally invasive spine surgery might include laser spine surgery, and it may be a better option for you than the traditional open surgical procedures.
Treating compressed spinal nerves with minimally invasive procedures
Minimally invasive surgeries are performed by using tiny incisions and guided, arthroscopic procedures. Your doctor is able to view the procedure using specialized equipment, allowing him or her to use tiny tools. This type of procedure may be used to treat the underlying cause of your nerve compression. While your physician might recommend that you undergo steroid injections before opting for surgery, steroid injections may not be used on a long-term basis because of their side effects.
Surgical intervention is meant to fix the underlying issue that causes the pinched nerve and its associated symptoms, allowing you to have lasting relief. Your doctor may remove herniated material, bulging material, bone spurs or inflamed tissues that are impinging the nerve root.
Open surgery vs. minimally invasive surgery
If your doctor has recommended that you undergo open back surgery, you are likely hesitant about it because of the potential risks and complications that are associated with open surgical procedures. At Spine Institute Northwest, we perform minimally invasive surgical interventions, minimizing your potential risks and complications. Our minimally invasive procedures are performed by our orthopedic doctors using cutting-edge technology combined with tiny incisions. They are performed in our surgical center on an outpatient basis. The damage to your surrounding muscles and tissues is minimized, which helps to shorten the recovery time. You will also enjoy a minimized scarring risk because of the tiny size of the incisions. A majority of our patients return home just a few hours after their procedures are completed.
Contact us today
For most people, minimally invasive surgeries are much better alternatives. You may enjoy a greatly shortened recovery period along with fewer risks than you might with an open surgery. If your chronic pain has greatly reduced your functional ability and has not been relieved by conservative treatments, contact the Spine Institute Northwest today. We will be happy to talk to you about the minimally invasive options that we perform and whether they might be appropriate for you.