3 Reasons To Reconsider Back Surgery
If you are experiencing some sort of lower back pain, it is important to realize that you’re not alone. About 80 percent of adults in the United States will experience some type of lower back pain at some point throughout their lifetime. Pain can begin abruptly as a result of an accident or by lifting something heavy, or it can develop over time due to age-related changes of the spine. Sedentary lifestyles also can set the stage for low back pain, especially when a weekday routine of getting too little exercise is punctuated by a strenuous weekend workout or a bout of strenuous physical activity. In most cases, lower back pain resolves on its own within a couple days to weeks without any specific intervention. Unfortunately, there are also some individuals that experience symptoms of lower back pain that extend far beyond months or even years after its initial onset.
In today’s day and age, many people are looking for a “quick fix” when it comes to treating pain and discomfort. In the case of chronic (lasting more than 12 months) lower back pain, these options are slim. As we previously discussed, chronic lower back pain takes time to develop. As a result of this, it is going to take some time to effectively and permanently resolve. However, some people believe that a surgery to the lower back will completely resolve their pain and return them quickly to their active, pain-free lifestyle. Unfortunately, this isn’t always the case.
In the vast majority of cases, back surgery is NOT the best option when it comes to treating lower back pain. In this post, I will discuss with you the three reasons why you should reconsider back surgery when it comes to finding a solution for your painful lower back.
Back Surgery Doesn’t Always Address The True Causes Of Your Pain
When considering back surgery, you need to determine the specific triggers of your lower back pain. With most people, lower back pain is multi-factorial (meaning not just due to one specific cause). Does your imaging show a disc bulge or degenerative disc/joint disease in your back? Purely relying on what your x-ray or MRI shows can be very unreliable resulting in Surgeons repairing structures in your body that may not be triggering your pain. In fact, studies have shown repeatedly that most lumbar disc degeneration (or bulging discs) shown on radiographic imaging is present in about 40% of individuals under the age of 30 and over 90% in those between the ages of 50-55. Is your lower back pain due to your sitting posture? Are your core muscles weak? Do you use poor body mechanics when lifting heavy objects at work or at home? Is your pain coming from somewhere else in your body? Maybe you’ve developed compensations in your movement patterns that are causing this pain to linger way beyond the normal healing process? Are your thoughts affecting your back pain? My point is that there is a lot to consider when assessing the cause or causes of your back pain. The last thing you want is to have an expensive and risky back surgery and still be relying on dangerous medications to mask the real problem(s).
Conservative Treatments Can Be Effective
Individuals who suffer from chronic back pain should consider other forms of conservative treatment before opting into back surgery. Research has shown time and time again that treatments such as physical therapy (including but not limited to therapeutic exercise, massage, manual therapy, stretching, and TENS therapy), massage therapy, and acupuncture have been shown to be more natural, effective, safe, and a less invasive alternative to “going under the knife.” Even making a therapeutic lifestyle change such as losing weight, starting a light exercise routine, changing your diet, and incorporating daily meditation/mindfulness have been shown to help better manage chronic lower back pain without depending on medications, injections, or back surgery.
There Are Always Risks Associated With Undergoing Any Surgery
Much like any other surgery, there runs the potential for risks and adverse side effects that can be disabling, complicate your surgical outcome, or potentially fatal. Some of these can include excessive bleeding, infection, abnormal reaction to anesthesia, blood clots, nerve damage, stroke, or heart attack. In most surgeries, people come out of surgery with no complications or adverse side effects. For these reasons back surgery should be avoided as the first line of treatment to resolve chronic back pain and should only be an option of last resort. Be sure to exhaust all conservative options before making the decision to undergo back surgery.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Dr. Garrett Desrosiers PT, DPT
Garrett is the CEO and Co-Owner of ProResults Physical Therapy Inc. in San Marcos, CA (North San Diego County). Garrett has been helping on-the-go active adults and athletes across the south western United States return to a pain-free active lifestyle without medications, injections, surgery or making unnecessary trips to the physician’s office since 2015. He graduated in 2013 with his Bachelors of Science in Kinesiology then went on to receive his Doctorate of Physical Therapy from Husson University in 2015. After working for three years in multiple fast paced outpatient orthopedic physical therapy clinics, Garrett quickly realized he was not able to provide the elite quality care he knew his clients deserved. Garrett felt clients were more than just a number or diagnosis and that in order to provide the time, empathy, passion, and high-quality treatment they deserved, starting his own private practice was the only option. Garrett is committed to helping every client make the best decision in regard to their health. His unique, personalized, eclectic, multifaceted approach takes those individuals who have decreased their activities or stopped being active all together to a real solution.