Failed back surgery syndrome Treatment
Here discuss about Failed back surgery syndrome Treatment in Southlake : Failed back surgery syndrome is often used to describe the condition of patients who have not had a successful result after undergoing back surgery or spine surgery and have continued to experience pain after the surgery.
There is only failed back surgery as there is no equivalent term for any other type of surgery. For example, there is no failed cardiac surgery syndrome, failed knee surgery syndrome, or any other failed surgery syndrome.
Reasons for Failed Back Surgery
There are many reasons while a back surgery will fail. Even if the surgery is provided by the best surgeon, back surgery is no more than 95% predictive of a successful result.
Back surgery can basically accomplish only two things which are:
- Decompress a pinched nerve root, or
- Stabilize a painful joint.
Unfortunately, back surgery cannot literally stop a patient’s pain. It is only able to change anatomy and an anatomical lesion that is probably the cause of the pain.
Most back surgeries are not effective in relieving pain because the lesion that was focused on and operated on is not actually the cause of the pain. Hence; the patient continues to experience pain.
The best way that you can avoid a failed back surgery is to undergo surgical operations that have high success rates and to ensure that an anatomic lesion that can be amended is identified before the surgery.
Some other causes of failed back surgery syndrome include:
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Some other causes of failed back surgery syndrome include:
Fusion surgery considerations
This could be as a result of failure to fuse, implant failure, or a transfer lesion to another level after a spine fusion.
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Lumbar decompression back surgery considerations
This could be as a result of recurrent spinal stenosis or disc herniation, inadequate decompression of a nerve root, preoperative nerve damage that does not heal after a decompressive surgery. It can also be due to nerve damage that occurs during the surgery.
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Scar tissue considerations
This could be as a result of epidural fibrosis (a formation of scar tissue around the nerve root).
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Postoperative rehabilitation
It could also be as a result of continued pain from a secondary pain generator.
Treatment of failed back surgery syndrome
Treatment of failed back surgery syndrome
Most times, back surgery is necessary to provide enough back pain relief. However, it should only be one component of a patient’s healing process. Unfortunately, most patients feel that they have been completely fixed after they have had back surgery and no further treatment is necessary.
This is not always true, as patients need to undergo continued therapies and rehabilitation for successful outcomes of the surgery.
Follow-up and rehabilitation are very important after back surgery. If you continue to experience pain after your surgery despite adequate time to heal and rehabilitate, then further work may be required to search if there is a new lesion or there’s a different type of problem that could contribute to your pain.
There are no typical scenarios for failed back surgery syndrome. Every patient is different, hence; a patient’s continued treatment needs to be individualized to his or her particular situation.
You need to understand that surgery alone cannot address all the pain generators. Focus should be turned on the patient and the pain generators in the patient. By treating the pain generators, the source of the majority of the pain can be known and blocked.
The mechanics of the spine will change depending on the surgery. If it’s fusion surgery, it may be that the two segments of the spine that were fused together are no longer moving on their own. They are now moving in unison.
This invariably creates a single segment, creating more wear and tear and more pain. Ensuring that the two segments move separately on their own can help relieve pain.
Another cause of pain may be the tissue damage that can happen after surgery. Connective tissue may cause fibrosis and can trap nerves. It can become tight and painful. That can be treated in a different way.
Motion actually happens across facet joints. Those joints are hinge-like joints. Just like any other joints in the body, they can get inflamed. Treating these inflamed joints usually resolves the associated pain.
Treatment of persisting pain after back surgery should be tackled in a systematic way. Diagnosing and eliminating the pain generators can restore function and stop the pain.
Treatment options such as spinal manipulations, physical therapy, pain medications, corticosteroids injections, spinal cord stimulation or implantable pumps to supply medications can be used to control the pain.