Where hips and knees go, the spine will follow. Not only is this the case with human perambulation, but it is also the course which orthopedic devices are following. Earlier this century, a surgeon might have fused the joints of a person suffering severe knee pain from a degenerative condition. This went a long way towards alleviating pain but didn't do much to improve the patient's mobility. While the current standard of care for knee and hip ailments has reached the point where prosthetic joint replacements are routinely implanted to reduce pain and increase mobility, the spine's complexity has so far defied the design of a successful disc prosthesis and procedures requiring vertebral fusion are still the norm. Spinal Dynamics Corp. hopes that its spinal disc replacement system will simulate the cushioning function of a normal disc, to restore a patient's normal movement and prevent the degeneration of adjacent discs.
A major cause of spinal disorders, particularly in the cervical (neck) and lumbar (lower) spine, is degenerative disc disease. A spinal disc is comprised of a gel-filled nucleus encased by...
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