Back And Spine Surgery

Red Flags And Back Pain 

When It is Essential You Are Checked Out By A Qualified medical practitioner

Red Flags And Back Pain

These appear to be the red flags raised among many professionals regarding back pain.

This is not a definitive list but if you experience any of the following it is wise for you to consult with a healthcare professional urgently:

Educating Yourself Before Preparing For Back Surgery 

5 Important Points About Back Surgery-

From The Page:

While most problems that cause back pain and sciatica can be treated successfully without surgical intervention, sometimes spine surgery is necessary. Listed below are five important points you want to know about spine surgery.

Are You Ready For Surgery?

From the page:

The morning you have been dreading has come. It is the crack of dawn and your family is about to help you to the car and drive you to the hospital for your long awaited operation. Have you done everything you could to prepare for surgery?
It seems like a strange question, doesn't it? What do you mean: have I done everything I could to prepare for surgery? I don't need to prepare for surgery-my surgeon needs to prepare for surgery. I just need to show up.

On the contrary, you need to prepare for your surgery just as much as your surgeon does.

Second Opinion On Spine Surgery? Would You Ask?

From the page:

"Would it be all right if I got a second opinion?"

Most people don't dare to ask that of their spine surgeon. After the doctor recommends surgery to help relieve back or neck pain, patients may want to ask if they can get a second opinion but few actually do. Perhaps it feels disrespectful-the surgeon clearly knows what he's talking about, and it would seem insulting to second guess him. But asking for a second opinion isn't second guessing; it's actually being a first-rate patient. It's taking a very active role in your treatment and recovery.

What Types Of Spine Surgery Are Available? 

Types Of Back Surgery Available

From The Page:

Surgery for back pain is generally not recommended unless all other options of treatment have been tried and unless emergency surgery is required.

There are different types of surgery for different diagnoses. Surgery can fall into 3 main categories; nerve decompression, fusion of bony segments and deformity correction.

Surgical Procedures

From The page:

In the most serious cases, when the condition does not respond to other therapies, surgery may relieve pain caused by back problems or serious musculoskeletal injuries. Surgical procedures can include:

# Discectomy
# Foraminotomy
# IntraDiscal Electrothermal Therapy (IDET)
# Nucleoplasty
# Radiofrequency Lesioning
# Spinal Fusion
# Spinal Laminectomy

Some surgical procedures may be performed in a doctor's office under local anesthesia, while others require hospitalization.

Surgery For Back Pain

From The Page:

Surgery is an absolute last resort for the treatment of back pain (unless it is required for a surgical emergency).

Your physician may suggest that you consider surgery if you continue to experience considerable pain despite nonsurgical treatment and if the cause of your back pain is due to something that can be surgically corrected.

Articles Discussing If Spinal Surgery Can Help. 

Can spinal surgery help low back pain sufferers? From Arthritis Today.

From The page:

Reproduced from Issue 130 of Arthritis Today

There are conflicting views about whether severe back pain can be improved by certain types of surgery, or whether it's better to leave the back to heal by itself. Jane Tadman looks at the pros and cons.

Should I Have Back Surgery?

From The Page:

In certain cases, surgery can significantly help back pain sufferers. For many, it can completely abolish the pain; for others, it can greatly reducing the level of pain suffered daily. But surgery is always a last resort, offered when conservative treatments have failed (unless there is an emergency indication for surgery).

Back surgery has suffered an unhappy reputation over the years. Yet there are large numbers of people throughout the world whose back pain has been abolished or greatly relieved through surgery. However, there are many people whose back pain was not at all improved after surgery, and sometimes even made worse.

Back And Neck Surgery

The primary purpose of back surgery or neck surgery is to correct an anatomical lesion in individuals who fail to show improvement with conservative treatment. For those patients who have pain, but no anatomical lesion can be identified that accounts for their pain, surgery is not an option. Surgery is useful only to change a patient's anatomy (e.g. remove a disc herniation). There is almost never any reason to consider exploratory surgery to "look" for a cause of pain.

Controversies About Spinal Fusion Surgery

While physicians agree on many things about spine fusion surgery, there are some areas that lack consensus. Two such areas are the type of bone used (autograft vs. allograft) and how many levels should be fused.

Choosing A Spine Surgeon 

Red Flags when Choosing A Spine Surgeon

From the page:

If a spine surgeon does not allow questions, acts disdainful of being questioned or if you find that your questions have not been adequately addressed, you should be cautious about having the procedure.

How To Select A Spine Surgeon

In addition to specific questions, there are three general considerations that can help guide your selection of a surgeon:

Specific Questions To Ask Your Spine Sugeon

Questions you need to be asking of your Spine Surgeon.

Back Surgery Rehabilitiation 

Rehabilitation After Spine Surgery

From The Page:

After an incorrect preoperative diagnosis and subsequent spine surgery, probably the second most common cause of failed back surgery syndrome is improper and/or inadequate postoperative rehabilitation. As stated earlier, it often takes months to a year to heal after many of these back surgeries, and a postoperative rehabilitation program that includes stretching, strengthening and conditioning is an important part of any successful spine surgery.

Spinal Surgery Rehabilitation

From the page:

Most people who have spinal surgery experience good to excellent results. They find significant relief of pain and the return of functional movement and strength, enabling them to walk, sit, drive a car, and cope with the activities of daily life.

Patients often report improvements in the way they feel immediately after they awake from the surgery. Although many patients see and feel immediate benefits, they maximize the benefits of surgery by taking part in a comprehensive rehabilitation program.

Learn about spinal rehabilitation after surgery including

* what you can do to control your pain when you return home
* how to move your body safely as you heal from surgery
* why outpatient physical therapy may be beneficial

What Is Failed Back Surgery Syndrome? 

Causes Of Failed back Surgery Syndrome By: Peter F. Ullrich, Jr., MD

From The Page:

Diagnostics for failed back surgery syndrome

A comprehensive physical examination and appropriate diagnostic imaging techniques can often pinpoint the responsible pathology. For instance, a definitive diagnosis of recurrent disc herniation or other disorders may be made.

In a number of cases, however, an MRI scan reveals only the presence of scar tissue as a remarkable finding, suggesting to some clinicians and researchers that the scar tissue is the likely source of the continued back pain and/or leg pain after spine surgery.....

Causes of pain after failed back surgery

At this point, the physician and patient will need to take a fresh look at the problem to exclude other causes of postoperative pain.

Failed Back Surgery Syndrome What Is it? How To Avoid It.

Failed back surgery syndrome (also called FBSS, or failed back syndrome) is a misnomer, as it is not actually a syndrome - it is a very generalized term that is often used to describe the condition of patients who have not had a successful result with back surgery or spine surgery. There is no equivalent term for this in any other type of surgery (e.g. there is no failed cardiac surgery syndrome, failed knee surgery syndrome, etc).

There are many reasons that a surgery may or may not work, and even with the best surgeon and for the best indications, spine surgery is no more than 95% predictive of a successful result.

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