Did You Know?

There is no surgery that is 100% successful at reducing back pain. If you have had a failed back or neck surgery, what can you do to reduce your pain?

  • Endoscopic Facet Rhizotomy
    This surgery is used to deaden nerves so that they cannot send pain signals to the brain. This is a minimally invasive surgery and only requires the use of a local anesthesia. For more information on how an Endoscopic Facet Rhizotomy is performed please click here.
  • Endoscopic Foraminotomy
    A back or neck surgery can fail for a variety of reasons, and an Endoscopic Foraminotomy may be able to help. This surgery has small incision so recovery times are shorter. For more information about how an endoscopic foraminotomy procedure is performed click here.
  • Spinal Fusion
    This is a major surgery that should not be taken lightly and while in some cases it’s helpful you should first look into more minimally invasive procedures. During the procedure itself, your surgeon would fuse together two or more of the vertebra in your back. Try again

What is Failed Back or Neck Surgery?

Back spine surgery is commonly used for the treatment of lower back pain. Surgical operations are typically performed for spinal decompression and spinal fusions using cages, bone graft, bars, and screws. If a patient continues to have symptoms of back and leg pain after a surgical operation, the patient’s condition is called failed back surgery syndrome (FBSS).

Failed neck surgery syndrome means a patient continues to feel neck pain and or arm pain following a traditional open neck surgery.

Symptoms of Failed Back or Neck Surgery Syndrome

The common symptoms of failed surgery syndrome are a dull and aching pain in the area of the previous surgery and sharp or stabbing pains in the extremities. Often coupled with these physical symptoms comes emotional symptoms of depression and anxiety.

What causes Failed Back or Neck Surgery Syndrome?

There are a few different causes of failed surgery syndrome, with the most common being a lack of skill required by the surgeon; this along with an inaccurate diagnosis can be a recipe for disaster. Other causes of failed back surgery syndrome could be a hardware failure or in the case of a spinal fusion the bone graft not fusing correctly.

Treatment Options for Failed Surgery Syndrome

An accurate diagnosis is required to truly understand why the original surgery failed. Once correctly diagnosed conservative treatments may begin. Conservative failed back surgery treatment may include exercise, manual physical therapy, spinal cord stimulation, possibly an implantable morphine pump to deliver pain medication.

If conservative treatments failed the patient along with the advice of a skilled surgeon will need to decide if they are comfortable enough to go forward with another surgery if at all possible. Pain relief from failed back surgery syndrome may be achieved by undergoing an endoscopic facet rhizotomy. This is a minimally invasive procedure that requires a very small incision with little time for recovery. To leran more about this procedure and see if you may be a candidate for it please click here.

How Can We Help

Atlantic Spinal Care has been successfully treating Failed Back or Neck Surgery in hundreds of patients every year. If you are interested in learning more about how Atlantic Spinal Care can help you relieve the pain you suffer as a result of Failed Back or Neck Surgery please consider one or more of the following options: