A healthy vertebra tolerates a great deal. A vertebra thinned by osteoporosis can fail under the weight of an ordinary day — a sneeze, a reach into the back of the car, a grandchild lifted off the floor. Nobody would call it an injury, and yet the bone has broken.
It is common enough that many of these fractures are never diagnosed. People assume they pulled something, wait it out, and end up a little shorter and a little more stooped than they were, with the pain gradually replaced by stiffness.
The examination looks at where the tenderness sits, whether the pain tracks anywhere, and what happens between lying, sitting and standing. Pain that eases almost completely when horizontal and returns the moment you are upright points strongly toward bone.
Imaging then does two things: confirms the fracture and dates it. Whether it is recent is the question that decides everything that follows, because kyphoplasty is aimed at fractures still in their healing phase.
In Colorado Springs, kyphoplasty is performed at Mountain View Surgical Specialists in Denver, and in office at our Mesa and Westgate clinics. You can be evaluated at InterQuest, 10807 New Allegiance Drive, off the InterQuest Parkway exit, and the appointment is arranged wherever suits your case rather than at a single site.
Assessment and follow-up can stay at Academy on North Academy Boulevard or Tenderfoot on Tenderfoot Hill Road, which for anyone in the Powers corridor or the south of the city is the shorter trip.
You lie face down. The skin and the path to the bone are numbed, a narrow instrument is introduced into the vertebra, the balloon is inflated to restore what height it can, and cement fills the space. It is an outpatient appointment.
Afterwards there is a period of lying flat while the cement fully hardens, then a short observation, then home. Arrange a driver in advance rather than on the day.
A fragility fracture is the clearest warning about bone health most people ever get, and it substantially raises the odds of another one. Treating the bone as well as the fracture is the part that changes the next few years.
Colorado patients will find most major commercial plans accepted, with most Medicare Advantage plans in network. Benefits are confirmed ahead of the appointment, no referral is needed to be assessed, and there is usually availability within the same week.
Background on kyphoplasty, and the wider Pain Management in Colorado Springs service.
Other Colorado Springs pages by complaint: sciatica treatment in Colorado Springs, herniated disc treatment in Colorado Springs, low back pain treatment in Colorado Springs, neck pain treatment in Colorado Springs, knee pain treatment in Colorado Springs and neuropathy treatment in Colorado Springs. And by procedure: epidural steroid injection in Colorado Springs, radiofrequency ablation in Colorado Springs, spinal cord stimulator in Colorado Springs and nerve block in Colorado Springs.
Every clinic below has Chiropractic, Physical Therapy, Acupuncture and Pain Management on one chart, so care can move between them without a new referral.
Downtown out through the north, west, south and east suburbs.
Academy, InterQuest and Tenderfoot cover the north, central and south of the city.
Harmony in Fort Collins and our Greeley clinic serve Larimer and Weld counties.
Across the Valley, from the West Valley through Phoenix to the East Valley.
Mountain View Surgical Specialists in Denver, and in office at our Mesa and Westgate clinics. You can be evaluated at InterQuest on New Allegiance Drive.
Generally not with this procedure. It is aimed at fractures still healing, which is why dating the fracture on imaging comes first.
Local anesthetic is used and sedation is discussed beforehand. It is an outpatient appointment either way.
Some, not always all. The realistic aim is stability and pain relief; regaining height is a bonus rather than a guarantee.
The risk is higher after a first fracture, which is exactly why bone density deserves attention alongside the treatment.
Often within a day or two, which is one of the more striking things about this procedure when it is well matched to the problem.
Beyond the first day, no. Normal movement is usually encouraged, with heavy lifting the exception.
We are in network with most Medicare Advantage plans in Colorado, and yours can be confirmed before the appointment.
Kyphoplasty is performed at Mountain View Surgical Specialists in Denver, and you can be evaluated at our InterQuest clinic. No referral is needed to be evaluated, and appointments are usually available within the same week.
