Anthony Milanka spent years suffering from a type of lower back pain
called Sciatica. It got so bad he had trouble walking and he could barley bend over.

"I was walking, I'd say like an old man, because of the pain."

Doctors told him that his only option for permanent relief was surgery.

Milanka told doctors, "I don't want an operation, something could happen, especially being a back operation."

He reconsidered when his doctor offered a new choice. Spinal Surgeon Dr. Corey Wallach says lower back pain like Milankas is typically caused by nerves being compressed by misaligned spinal discs.

"Previously we would do a standard procedure which would involve
accessing the spine from the back, from an open incision and basically
unroofing all of the different pressure that's on the nerves."

The old surgery also requires a three to five day hospital stay and it
can take months before patients are pain free but with this new procedure, surgeons operate through two small incisions on the side of the body. From there, special cameras help them navigate through the muscles and identify the compressed nerves. Then doctors can
shift any misaligned spinal discs back to their normal positions to create more room for those nerves.

Dr. Wallach says, "We don't really cut any of the muscles with this procedure, we sort of just move them out of our way and create a safe, working corridor."

Dr. Wallach tell us he's finding that most patients are leaving the hospital the next day and are able to get back to a normal level of functioning almost immediately.

"I do the surgery for people who live alone and they can still go home the next day and they're safe, they're able to go up and down stairs, take care of themselves."

Anthony Milanka says he's back at work and says he's feeling much better.