Failed Low Back Surgery
Failed Low Back Surgery & Pain Management
From a constant, mild ache to shooting or throbbing sensation, back pain may show up in any form. While it is merely annoying sometimes, at other times, it is unbearable and excruciating. Regardless of its type, back pain often affects just more than your body. It can make even the simplest tasks difficult to perform, from your household chores to your professional duties. It is not only the pain you have to deal with but also a great deal of discomfort.
Many people experience back pain in the world that causes disability and immobility than any other painful condition. For many people, surgery is the only way out to manage pain and get some relief. However, the option is not sufficient for everyone when it comes to relieving pain. More than 40 percent of people who undergo surgery experience continued pain in the lower back after surgery.
The medical term for this specific type of back pain patients experience after surgery is "Failed Back Surgery Syndrome" (FBSS). Note that a failed low back surgery doesn't always mean that the surgery had technical problems or failure. Several factors can cause recurring pain.
If you experience FBBS symptoms, it is possible that you feel out of options. But it is not true. There are pain management treatments you can opt for to reduce your low back surgery pain. Here is all you need to about failed low back surgery pain and its pain management techniques.
What is Failed Low Back Surgery
Failed low back surgery is typically a collection of many symptoms, mainly related to spine or back surgeries that couldn't accomplish the complete recovery. According to medical experts, a failed low back surgery pain occurs after a surgery cause different symptoms. Despite a spine surgery procedure, there can be a few problems to address in patients' lower back area.
In many cases, spine surgery often leads to various new symptoms. Post-surgery complications can also cause the spine of the patient to heal differently and incorrectly. The situation is not common but leads to sensations and pain. Surgery, without a doubt, entails many risks. And recovering from it completely is not only unpleasant but also may take a lot of time.
It is especially true in the case of spine surgeries. They are often complicated and risky even if you take all precautions. Every spine surgery has a 5% chance of failure. However, spine or low back pain surgery has different forms, depending on the severity of the patient's condition.
The good news is that there are treatment options that can help you alleviate or manage the pain. However, it is crucial to understand the underlying cause and post-surgery complications. Plus, it would help if you learned to differentiate between usual pain signs and FBSS pain symptoms. It allows your doctor to diagnose FBSS quickly and recommend the best treatment.
Take a look at the reasons for FBSS and post-surgery pain.
Causes of Failed Low Back Surgery
Typically, a spine surgery aims to accomplish two things;
• Decompress a pinched nerve root
• Stabilize an aching or sore joint
It is worth mentioning that spine surgery or back surgery doesn't eliminate pain. It only changes anatomy or an anatomical lesion (injury) that is an underlying cause of lower back pain. The medical professionals need to identify a lesion injury before a spine surgery rather than after surgery.
There are types of spine surgeries that have more predictable results for causing mild or throbbing pain. Microdiscectomy, for instance, is an operation of lumbar disc herniation that causes back pain. The surgery is far less likely to achieve successful results and may cause FBSS.
Therefore, you and your doctor need to avoid any spine surgery that may lead to a high degree of pain and stick to the options with high chances of success. In addition to wrong surgery choice, there can be other potential reasons for FBSS and continued back pain such as;
• Lumbar decompression- inadequate decompression of your nerve root or damage that doesn't heal after surgery
• Scar Tissues- formation of various scar tissues around the main nerve root
• Fusion Surgery- implant failure or incomplete transfer lesion after spine fusion
Failed Low Back Surgery- Pain Management Treatments
Minimal Injection Treatment with Physical Therapy
When it comes to finding the best pain management options for FBSS, it is always better to consider the traditional the most treatment. In this regard, physical therapy is one of the proven ways to reduce the intensity of pain after spine surgery.
With physical therapy techniques, you can strengthen and condition the muscles and joint that supports your spinal cord. It is an excellent way to improve flexibility to relieve pain caused by failed low back surgery and prevent further damage.
According to medical professionals, exercise and physical therapy are two primary components of an FBSS's treatment plan. However, doctors need more evidence to understand physical therapy's efficacy in treating back pain after spine surgery.
If physical therapy doesn't significantly change your low back surgery pain, add invasive injections to help it reduce while continuing with your PT program. You can use both treatments for better results.
Ablations, Nerve Blocks, and Epidurals
Invasive injections use epidural steroids or facet joints to relieve the pain. Your doctor can also give you trigger point injections to reduce muscle spasms around the spine.
Doctors or medical professionals conduct an X-ray before injecting steroids on the target structure, causing pain after back surgery. The area usually becomes inflamed due to surgery. Taking steroid injections reduces inflammation in the nerve roots and spinal column, which typically results from;
o Disc bulging or herniation
o Narrowing or stenosis of the spinal canals and column
o Scar tissues around spinal nerve roots and column
Nerve blocks and joint injections target the small facet joints and the sacroiliac joints (located at the bottom of the spine) as they are the common sites of pain and inflammation following back surgery. It is possible that you don't get long-lasting relief from the injections. In this case, you probably are a good candidate for nerve ablation.
The procedure is simple in which a doctor advances a needle to your sensory nerve and heats its tip to disrupt it while entering the joint. This 15 minutes process is not only safe but also offers lasting relief. However, the pain may return when the nerves grow back.
Spinal Cord Stimulation
Spinal cord stimulation can be your next step if the pain management treatments mentioned above fail to mitigate or reduce the pain. Spinal cord stimulation refers to small devices with tiny wires your doctor implants in the spine's painful and inflamed part. A small battery or pacemaker delivers electrical signals to your spinal nerves to disrupt pain signals, normalize sensations, and control pain.
The fantastic devices not only offer long-lasting relief but also eliminate the need for medications. Their test drive feature makes them even more practical for patients who are not sure whether to proceed with this technology or not. It is an outpatient process in which you get enough trial time to notice signs of any pain relief.
Currently, many studies and scientific evidence support spinal cord stimulation as one of the viable pain management treatments for failed low back surgery pain. Many patients prefer this treatment compared to chronic medication management and spine surgery.
Pain Pump or Intrathecal Drug Delivery
If none of the pain management treatment provides enough relief, consider opting for intrathecal drug delivery. Commonly known as a pain pump, the treatment is not much different from spinal cord stimulation.
It also comprises two-phase including trial and implant. Doctors inject medicine into intrathecal space to alleviate the pain. If effects are visible in the trial phase, the doctor authorizes an implant of the complete intrathecal drug delivery.
The system uses a catheter that directly goes into intrathecal space and delivers medicine doses into the fluid around your brain and spinal cord. If successful, it can offer instant pain relief with mild side effects than oral medication.
Intrathecal drug delivery is not a new treatment for pain management. People have been using it for years, and it has shown significant effects on the inflamed and painful area of the spine. This pain management system's technology is improving, and doctors try different pain relievers for the treatment.
Summing Up
All in all, experiencing swelling, cramps, bleeding, and pain after spine surgery is normal. It is because your body is in the recovery phase and heals slowly. As the body is still tender, it doesn't appreciate jerking motions and excessive movement.
However, with patience, time, and the right pain management treatment, you can overcome post-surgery haze and pain. Thus, the given FBSS details and pain management treatment are effective for your long-term physical recovery.
Sources
https://austinpaindoctor.com/treatment-failed-back-surgery-syndrome
https://www.caringmedical.com/prolotherapy-news/failed-back-surgery-syndrome-treatment-options/