Patent ID: 7241297

Claim:
A method for treating diseases and conditions that change the spacial relationship between a first vertebral body of a first vertebra, a second vertebral body of a second vertebra adjacent the first vertebra, and a first intervertebral disk between the first vertebral body and the second vertebral body, or that cause instability of the vertebral column, or both, and a method that allows the surgeon to access the first intervertebral disk to restore a more normal three-dimensional configuration of the first intervertebral disk between the first vertebral body and the second vertebral body, the method comprising: a) selecting a patient; b) obtaining transpedicular access to the first intervertebral disk by creating a channel through a pedicle of the first vertebra; c) removing at least part of the first intervertebral disk through the transpedicular access; and d) inserting a first flexible drill through the channel and actuating the flexible drill, thereby extending the channel through the first vertebral body and into the intervertebral disk; where the first flexible drill is a flexible drill comprising a lower sub-assembly connected to an upper sub-assembly; where the lower sub-assembly comprises a spin luer lock, a retainer tube, a piston anchor, a piston level, a piston, a distal O-ring and a proximal O-ring; and where the upper sub-assembly comprises a drilling tip, guiding tube, a barrel knob, a barrel, a threaded adapter, a liner, a bearing housing, a flexible shaft, a distal bearing, a proximal bearing, a collet, a bearing cap and a motor receptacle; where the guiding tube comprising a proximal segment having a central axis and a distal segment having a distal end; where the drilling tip is connected to the distal end of the distal segment; and where the guiding tube comprises a substance that has been processed to return to a shape where the distal segment has a radius of curvature sufficient to cause the drilling tip at the end of the distal segment to orient at between about 10° and 150° off of the central axis of the proximal segment when the guiding tube is not subject to distortion.