A patient suffering from a back or spinal disorder may have to undergo surgery to recover from his condition. In most cases spine surgery will provide the patient respite from his problem, however there may be cases where the operation may not work and the spine surgery fails to help the patient get rid from his problem.
Before we get into the factors that lead to failed back surgery or why a patient suffers from pain after spine surgery, let us take a look at what a patient or a surgeon needs to accomplish through spine surgery. Back surgery is usually recommended to relieve the pressure on a nerve root that is pinched, another reason for spine surgery is to stabilize a painful joint.
Reasons Why Spine Surgery Fails
Before undergoing a back surgery procedure, one needs to understand that undergoing an operation does not meant that it will literally cut out the pain a the patient suffering. Spine surgery will provide the patient respite from his uncomfortable situation by changing anatomy and getting rid of injury or anatomical lesion that is usually the main cause of back pain.
The most common reason for a failed spine surgery procedure is that the injury that was operated on was not the underlying cause of the person’s pain.
Studies have also proven that smoking is also a major catalyst of pain after surgery and can cause failed back surgery syndrome in a patient.
Failure of a spinal surgery procedure may also be caused by conditions like recurrent spinal stenosis, nerve damage that may occur during surgery, disc herniation, and undue pressure on a nerve root or epidural fibrosis. Studies have also shown that apart from the physiological reasons like the ones mentioned above, failed spine surgery may also be caused emotional ill health like insomnia, depression and anxiety.