Spine surgery is often viewed as the final option for patients who have been dealing with lingering back problems, but it’s not a perfect solution that works for every patient. In order to be eligible for spine surgery, your situation has to check certain boxes, so to speak. Below, we explain some of the criteria that help us determine whether a patient would truly benefit from spine surgery, or if we should pursue other worthwhile options.
Do you know your diagnosis?
In order to ensure spine surgery will be successful, you have to know exactly what’s going on in the spine. Many back problems have similar symptoms, so if you think you’re dealing with one problem, but you actually have a different condition, an operation won’t treat the correct underlying issue. To ensure you have a correct diagnosis, it’s often recommended that you seek a second opinion so that two independent specialists see the same issue and believe that surgery is the right move.
Have you tried six weeks of conservative care?
For the vast majority of cases, a spine surgeon will not operate on a patient until they’ve tried at least six weeks of conservative care. There are exceptions when a condition like a tumor is causing life threatening issues, but because surgery is a major trauma on the body, doctors like to see if non-operative measures can produce encouraging results. Rest, exercise, physical therapy and dietary changes are often used in combination with one another in an attempt to reduce or eliminate symptoms.
Are you healthy enough for surgery?
Surgical outcomes are often closely tied to the health of the patient receiving the operation, so some doctors will not risk an operation on a patient who is very old or who is dealing with certain health conditions that could complicate surgical success. Sometimes the reward simply isn’t worth the risk. Ask your doctor if you are healthy enough for surgery, and see what you can do to improve your health if surgery could potentially be in your future.
Will surgery significantly reduce or solve your problem?
Spine surgery can help with a number of conditions, but it can’t fully resolve every single spinal issue. Maybe there is too much spinal degeneration to safely repair, or there’s a chance that you’ll still have discomfort after surgery. Nobody wants to go through an unnecessary operation, and this is another reason why a second opinion is so important. If one or both surgeons feel that there’s a decent chance that surgery may not solve the problem, then you may want to look for other treatment options.
Are you willing to put in the work?
Finally, spine surgery is only truly right for those patients who are willing to put the work into their rehab to get the most out of the operation. You aren’t going to experience full recovery if you skip physical therapy sessions and keep doing the same daily activities that led to the need for surgery in the first place. You need to commit to your rehabilitation plan and consider some daily lifestyle changes if surgery is really going to work for your situation. We’d be more than happy to walk you through any aspect of your rehab so that you can have the most successful surgery experience possible.
For more information, or to see if you’d be an ideal candidate for spine surgery, reach out to our office today.
