Back surgery is often necessary to relieve the painful symptoms of a variety of spinal ailments such as lumbar herniated discs, sciatica, stenosis, and other degenerative or injury-induced back pains.
Patients sometimes loose functionality and suffer pain even after surgery.In fact, reports suggest that between 10 and 40 percent of patients who have undergone back surgery experienced Failed Back Surgery Syndrome.
What is Failed Back Surgery Syndrome (FBSS)?
Low back pain is one of the most common health conditions affecting between 60 and 80 percent of the world’s population. Surgery is among the various non-invasive and surgical treatments for lower back pain. However, unsuccessful surgeries often cause worse chronic and severe pain for patients who have undergonetraditional surgeries on their back and spine.
How is it caused?
Back surgery may exacerbate existing symptoms that you may have been experiencingbefore. It may also cause new symptoms. When the wrong vertebra is operated or the doctor used improper technique, it can cause the pain to worsen, not get better.
Some of the causes of Failed Back Surgery Syndrome are:
- The formation of scar tissues
- Nerve damage from the surgery
- Inaccurate diagnosis which leads to the wrong procedure
- Unsuccessful in stabilizing a painful joint
- The surgery is performed at the wrong level of the spine
- Ineffective treatment of the affected area
- The inability to decompress a pinched nerve root
- Lack of post-operative rehabilitation
What are the symptoms?
Unsuccessful back surgery causes pain, discomfort, and may even reduce regular functioning if it’s left uncorrected. It poses compilations for patients and physiciansalike since there are no clear symptoms that point to this condition.
Some of the symptoms to look out for are:
- Sharp and stabbing pain
- Chronic pain
- Radiating aches and dull pain that affects other parts of your body
- Pain in areas adjacent to the operated region
- A greater dependence on medication to relieve pain
- A decrease in daily functionality and mobility
Finding effective treatments
Assessing the symptoms and treating Failed Back Surgery Syndrome requires a comprehensive treatment plan that incorporates the patient’s medical history, pre-surgery conditions as well as diagnostic assessments and physical examinations.
The expert surgeons at our neck and spine center Houston are skilled in providing effective treatments and recovery plans for patients suffering from Failed Back Surgery Syndrome (FBSS). Our team of neurosurgeons at Houston Neurosurgery & Spine are widely recognized as some of the country’s leading professionals, providing pain relief through minimally-invasive procedures.
Our surgical treatment solutions for Failed Back Surgery Syndrome include Endoscopic Foraminalplasty, Endoscopic Rhizotomy, Transforaminal Endoscopic Discectomy, and Microdiscectomy.
Take the first step in seeking relieffrom the pain that’s affecting your quality of life. Call us at 832.522.8500 to schedule an appointment at our back and spine clinic Houston