Surgical Risks of Lumbar Spine Surgery

Why Not Consider Surgery First?

More than 200,000 patients undergo lumbar spine surgery each year.  Unfortunately, 50 percent of patients will fail to gain the desired outcome.  In fact, 10 percent of patients will be worse after the initial surgery.  The Center for Low Back Pain states, “The first axiom for anyone in the healing arts is to ‘first do no harm’.  Pain is NOT a reason to entertain surgery. . .”

If you are considering surgery, you should have the following facts at hand:

1)       While low back surgery focuses on complete removal of bone, disc and other supportive soft tissue structures, the anatomical location of the disc makes its complete removal impossible.  Because of this fact, the remaining portion of the disc can continue to place pressure on the afflicted nerves and thereby cause continued pain.

2)       Because these structures are physically close to one another, and because surgery in the lower spine is in itself stressful to the area, even structures that have not been removed can become damaged or stressed as a result of the surgery and themselves become a new source for pain.

3)       Surgery always results in the formation of some amount of scar tissue.  If the scar tissue itself forms near any of the nerves, it too becomes an independent source for pressure and consequently for pain.

4)       Since disc removal surgery inevitably takes place right near the afflicted nerves, there is a distinct possibility that the nerves themselves will be damaged during the procedure.  If that happens, the nerve damage itself results in continued pain.

5)       Low back surgery always requires the use of anesthesia and anesthesia itself is associated with a great number of medical risks including death.

6)       All surgery, including low back surgery, is associated with infection risks.  The risks begin preoperatively with the injection of anesthetics or other preparatory drugs and continue straight through the surgical procedure itself.  The risk of infection remains throughout the postoperative recovery period whether that recovery occurs in hospital or out.  If infection sets in, the infection itself can cause independent medical problems as well as become an independent source of pain.

7)       Low back surgery requires significant recovery time. . . Time which many patients cannot afford to lose.

8)       Many low back pain sufferers are not good candidates for surgery, either because they have medical conditions that raise the normal risks to intolerable levels, or because their particular sources of low back pain are not susceptible to relief via surgery.

9)       Even if the surgery is successful in and of itself, and even if no procedure-related problem actually develops; there is the high probability that within 2 to 5 years, another surgery will be needed to fix the level(s) above or below the ones that were the target of the first surgery.  The sheer force of normal weight and gravity on the spine during the course of everyday life will result in the development of new problems and thus, new sources of pain.

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