Spinal segmental motion preservation

Spinal segmental motion preservation refers to the principle and clinical strategies employed in spine surgery where procedures are selected or engineered to maintain the physiological movement of the operated spinal segment rather than fusing it and thus eliminating motion. These approaches use techniques such as artificial disc replacement, facet replacement, dynamic stabilization, and interspinous process devices, aiming to preserve flexibility, reduce the risk of adjacent segment degeneration, and support a quicker return to functional activity. This is in contrast to spinal fusion, which sacrifices motion at the treatment level in exchange for stability, with the trade-off of increased risk of complications in adjacent segments and reduced biomechanical function. Spinal segmental motion preservation is not a single molecule, receptor, or drug target, but the collective name for a surgical approach and related device technologies designed to maintain the range of motion in the spine, typically in the cervical or lumbar regions. There is therefore no protein, gene, receptor, or canonical molecular target to which drugs are directly applied under this name.

Other names

Motion-preserving spine surgeryFusion-sparing spine surgeryMotion preservation techniques