Spine Care
Why Choose Duke for Your Spine Condition
For More InformationDuke’s spine specialists use advanced techniques to diagnose and treat your back and neck conditions. We offer a range of nonsurgical treatment options as well as minimally invasive and open surgeries that treat a variety of spine conditions.
Duke spine and back pain clinics are located throughout the Triangle. Find one near you.
Treatment for Spine Conditions
We want to find the most-effective, least-invasive option to treat symptoms or pain related to your spine condition. In most cases, our spine doctors will suggest conservative options first, but we are proud to offer the full range of minimally invasive and surgical options to meet your needs.
Conservative Treatment Options
Nonsurgical treatments like physical therapy, bracing, medications, and electrical stimulation are all noninvasive and can often provide substantial relief. Spinal injections are also an effective option for various types of back and neck pain:
- Diagnostic block injections help pinpoint the source of your pain/symptoms using numbing medication to prepare for additional treatments.
- Epidural steroid injections treat pain/symptoms from the spinal nerves due to inflammation, compression (“pinched nerve”), narrowed spinal canal or other irritations.
- Joint injections target pain that originates within joints, like the facet, sacroiliac (SI), and hip joints.
- Nerve block injections use a mixture of numbing medicine and steroids to treat nerve pain/symptoms.
Minimally Invasive Procedures
You may be a candidate for one of the following minimally invasive procedures:
- Intrathecal pump therapy: A surgically implanted pump releases low doses of medication into the space around the spine to reduce pain signals.
- Spinal cord stimulation and peripheral nerve stimulation: Strategically implanted electrodes and a generator work together to send electrical impulses that block pain signals.
- Radiofrequency ablation (RFA): Energy damages specific nerves so that they no longer send pain signals to your brain.
Surgical Treatment Options
If other treatments can't provide adequate relief from the symptoms or pain related to your spine condition, or if your condition is worsening, you may be a candidate for spine surgery. Depending on your condition, our spine specialists can offer various surgical options to address your individual problem. Duke’s spine surgeons perform:
- Disc replacements, spinal fusion, and laminectomies to correct spine problems
- Complex reconstructive surgeries to correct scoliosis and other spinal deformities
- Procedures to remove spine cancer lesions
- Decompression surgeries to relieve pain and pressure from pinched nerves
- And more
Whenever possible we use the least-invasive surgical techniques, so you recover quicker, experience less post-operative pain and fewer complications, and have smaller incisions. We’ll find the solution that’s best for you based on your activity goals, surgical preferences, and pain level.
Patients of the Duke Spine Center that are scheduled for surgery are strongly encouraged to attend this class prior to surgery. Learn more about what to expect from spine surgery, including pre- and post-hospital care and other valuable information.
Why Choose Duke
Diverse Team of Experts
Our team of spine specialists includes neurosurgeons, orthopedic surgeons, physiatrists, spinal oncologists, pain management doctors, physical and occupational therapists, psychologists, social workers, and many others. We work together to find the best treatment options for your unique symptom profile and lifestyle.
Measured Approach to Pain Treatment
We aim to find and treat the source of your pain, rather than just covering it up. We weigh the risks and benefits of every treatment option and follow strict guidelines, especially when considering prescribing medications with a risk of dependency. We take seriously our responsibility to care for your current and future well-being.
Highly Experienced Spine Center
Research shows that hospitals and surgeons who perform more surgeries tend to have better outcomes. Our surgical team performs more than 3,000 spine surgeries every year and sees over 40,000 patients.
Safe, Effective Results
Our surgeons are motivated to constantly improve, so they pay close attention to outcomes and always strive to do better. All three Duke hospitals have been named Blue Distinction Centers+ by Blue Cross Blue Shield. This recognizes Duke’s delivery of safe, cost-effective, and efficient spine surgery care. As members and leaders within the American Association of Neurological Surgeons, American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, Scoliosis Research Society, North American Spine Society, and Cervical Spine Research Society, our spine surgeons stay up-to-date on the latest technologies and advances in treating your spinal injury or condition. This results in safe, effective procedures that reduce complications to your crucial but delicate spine, nerves, and spinal cord.
Optimizing Health
Duke’s POSH (Perioperative Optimization of Senior Health), Pre-Anesthesia Testing Center, and pre-rehabilitation with physical therapy programs help evaluate, improve, and optimize health prior to surgery. Your team may adjust medications, initiate physical therapy, or refer you to a specialist to treat a chronic condition (diabetes, anemia, or smoking, for example) before surgery -- plus they’ll work with your surgical team to lessen risks.
Operating Room Technology
Our ORs are equipped with real-time imaging options that give spine surgeons detailed, 3D pictures of your spine. These systems help avoid the need for extra imaging after surgery, exposing you to less radiation. OR staff also use a sophisticated nerve stimulation system -- similar to a GPS for your body -- that helps them avoid vital nerves and other structures during your surgery. This allows for more surgical accuracy than ever before. Robots are also used in surgery to increase precision. Our dedicated spine OR teams work daily to increase efficiency and improve outcomes.
Highest Level of Emergency Care for Spinal Injuries
Duke University Hospital is a Level I Trauma Center, which means we provide the highest level of emergency care for spinal injuries. Our trauma center is a regional and national referral center for neck and spine injuries and disorders.
Where you receive your care matters. Duke University Hospital is proud of our team and the exceptional care they provide. They are why our orthopaedics, neurology, and neurosurgery programs are nationally ranked, and are the highest ranked programs in North Carolina, according to U.S. News & World Report for 2021–2022.