Vertebral Straightening
 
Severe backache and loss of motion due to a breakdown of the vertebral bodies are wide spread problems. The most common causes are osteoporosis (caries) and tumours.
The pain is particularly based on the instability of a broken down vertebral body causing irritation in the surrounding periosteum or bone skin, which is very pain sensitive.
Vertebroplasty and kyphoplasty are up-to-date, gently acting procedures to effectively treat this type of pain. The vertebral bodies get stabilised by being injected with bone cement, which leads to distinct pain relief and improvement in mobility with a large number of patients.
The difference between the two methods consists essentially in that with a vertebroplasty the cement is directly injected, whereas with the kyphoplasty the bodies are prestretched using a pressured balloon.