Speaking to presspersons here, Sujay Rao, head of the Department of Neurosurgery and Paediatric Neurosurgery at St. Philomena’s Hospital, said a sedentary lifestyle, lack of exercise and sitting in front of the television and the computer for long hours has increased the incidence of the neck and back pain among young people. “We are seeing more and more young people, especially from the IT industry, coming to us with spinal problems.

The TDR procedure is specifically beneficial to young persons who are still in their productive ages as it helps them to retain their mobility and get back to normal faster,” Dr. Sujay said.

He added that around six such surgeries were conducted in the hospital for patients with cervical disc prolapse and the youngest among them was a 22-year-old.

Hee Hwan Tak, specialist spine surgeon from National University Hospital, Singapore, who performed a TDR surgery on a 62-year-old patient with two slip discs in the neck area, which had caused severe shooting pain in the neck and arm, said that TDR for the neck region of the spine and lumbar (lower back) region were being performed as a routine procedure.

“When there is a disc prolapse, the jelly-like nucleus between the two spinal bones bursts out through its enclosure pressing against the spinal cord and nerves. The aim of the surgery is to free the compressed nerve of the spine and relieve the patient,” he said.

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