Suffering from Failed Back Surgery Syndrome?
Laser-Assisted Spine Procedures Can Help
To say that failed back surgery syndrome is painful is the understatement of a lifetime. If you are suffering from the results of a failed fusion or spine surgery, you know firsthand how the pain and lack of mobility affect every aspect of your existence.
Things that you used to do with ease, such as going on a walk, sitting up straight, wearing high heels, driving, working, walking up and down stairs, playing with your children, or preparing a meal for your family, have become difficult, if not impossible.Pain prevents you from exercising, your life becomes sedentary, and you start to put on weight. This extra weight gain has two unfortunate side effects. First, the added weight exacerbates your pain. Second, the added weight affects your self-image and your self-confidence.
What Causes Failed Back Syndrome?
Failed back syndrome describes what happens when back surgery fails. The number one symptom of failed back surgery is a continuation of the pain after the surgical procedure is complete. There are a lot of reasons why back surgery fails.
In truth, back surgery can only accomplish two things:
It can decompress a nerve that is pinched.
It can stabilize a joint that is causing pain.
Back surgery is not designed to cut out or to remove your pain. Instead, it is designed to make anatomical changes to the back with the goal of addressing the problem that is likely the cause of the pain. The number one reason why back surgery fails is because of the area that was treated is not actually the cause of the pain.
Pedicle screws causing back pain
On the other hand, if you had a successful back surgery which later failed this could be the result of pedicle screws, which are used in spinal fusions, dislodging or loosening. When a pedicle screw loosens it may cause pain on the opposite side of the body. If you had a lumbar fusion then your pain will most likely go down your leg.
The Emotional Toll of Failed Back Syndrome
It is not uncommon for individuals who are dealing with failed back syndrome to take antidepressants, sleeping pills, and painkillers. The pain absorbs your life. It defines who you are, and it serves as a filter for how you see the world.
Agonizing pain is constantly on your mind or in your conversation. Some of your closest friends and family members may sympathize with the pain you are experiencing. But they can never understand it.
In short order, their sympathy may morph into annoyance and avoidance. They get tired of hearing you talk about pain. You feel depressed when you see their reaction to you talking about your pain. Little by little, you start to isolate yourself from those around you.
Undoubtedly, you sympathize with the words of a failed back syndrome suffer who said, “I am not trying to play the victim. I understand that other people may have worse situations than mine. However, my pain is so intense and so constant that it is difficult for me to remember the last time I enjoyed living.”
If you have come this far dealing with failed back pain syndrome, this means that you are a fighter. We understand that you want to do everything in your power to change your circumstances. You have no desire to just give up.
Continued Pain after Surgery
If you are dealing with continued back pain after having a surgical procedure performed, we empathize with the frustration and disappointment you must feel. Undoubtedly, before your back surgery, your doctor explained the risk factors and that there was a small chance that the surgery would not produce the desired results.
However, in your heart and mind, you strongly believed you would be counted among those for who back surgery was successful. You may be asking yourself why you are still dealing with the pain. Here are some possible explanations:
- Fusion Surgery. Pain following fusion surgery results when the fusion or the implant fails. It can also result when the fusion or transplant injures or causes the degeneration of another level of the spine.
- Lumbar Decompression Back Surgery. The goal of this surgery is to decompress a pinched nerve or to correct a disc herniation. Continued pain may be experienced if the nerve is not properly decompressed, it does not properly heal after surgery, or it is damaged during surgery.
- Scar Tissue Formation. After some surgeries, scar tissue may form around the nerve root. This causes pressure and pain.
How We Can Help
We have worked with many patients who are suffering from pain even after back surgery. We have heard countless stories of individuals who have lost their job, have lost their marriage, and who have lost their self-esteem because of the intensity and constancy of their pain.
For this reason, we are committed to helping every single one of our patients learn to manage their pain and receive a level of, if not complete, pain relief.
Our program starts with us taking the time to listen to you. We want to hear about the surgery you had, how your pain was prior to the surgery, and how it is now. Once we have a clear picture of what you are experiencing, our next step is to work with you to create short-term and long-term pain relief treatments.
When you leave one of our clinic locations, after the initial consultation, you will clearly understand the steps we plan to take to address your pain needs and what results we expect you to see in the short-term and the long-term.
It is devastating realizing that your costly and invasive back surgery did not remove your pain in the way you expected it to. Let us work with you to help you find the relief back surgery could not produce. We are eager to be your guide on the road to an active, productive, happy, and pain-free life.
