Does back surgery ever work?

One study estimated the success rate for back surgeries to be about 50%. This estimate is conservative, as most success rates depend on a wide variety of factors. Your health, specific surgery, source of pain and any surgery complications influence whether or not your procedure will be effective.

How often is back surgery not a success?

In fact, surgery often does not relieve the pain; research suggests that 20 to 40 percent of back surgeries are not successful. This lack of success is so common that there is a medical term for it: failed back surgery syndrome.

How long does it take to recover from back surgery?

Even with a successful surgery, the recovery time can be long. Depending on the type of surgery and your condition before the surgery, healing may take months. And you may lose some flexibility permanently. What are the considerations for anesthesia during surgery?

How many people work full time after spine surgery?

Interestingly, of the 124 patients undergoing a short fusion, namely a fusion of one or two levels to control an unstable segment or something similar, 90% were still working full time four years after surgery.

How does back surgery help with back pain?

Stabilize a painful joint. Unfortunately, back surgery or spine surgery cannot literally cut out a patient’s pain. It is only able to change anatomy, and an anatomical lesion (injury) that is a probable cause of back pain must be identified prior to rather than after back surgery or spine surgery.

Why do so many back surgeries not work?

By far the number one reason back surgeries are not effective and some patients experience continued pain after surgery is because the lesion that was operated on is not in fact the cause of the patient’s pain.

Is there such a thing as failed back surgery syndrome?

You are here. 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 and have experienced continued pain after surgery.

Honor the fatigue. After four or five hours of surgery, your body has been through what Dr. John Starr, my surgeon from the Washington Orthopedic and Sports Medicine Group in Washington, D.C., compares to a major car wreck. Your body feels that shock. Plus, your body is recovering from four or five hours of anesthesia.