Elisa injured her lower back while lifting a child at work. she now has pain and numbness, and muscle weakness in her left leg. which surgical procedure will the doctor perform to treat elisa’s herniated intervertebral disk?

The doctor will perform a procedure called hemilaminectomy and discectomy. This procedure can be done by open surgery (cutting the skin and tissues) or with the help of an endoscopic device. The surgery consists in the removal of the soft part of the afflicted intervertebral disc, through a window open between the bone of the vertebrae (the lamina or so-called “the roof”) of the adjacent vertebrae. The objective of the surgery is to release the compression of the nerve that emerges through the conjunction foramen.