A few weeks ago a patient asked me why he was having pain a year after successful back surgery. He felt fine after the operation but several months later his pain was coming back. He told me that the pain felt different than it used to and that it was going down his leg in a different area.
I told him that chances were very good that the surgery took care of his problem at the one area that the surgeon was working on. The problem is that the sciatic nerve has three major branches and that the major distribution point (the lumbar plexus) receives input from all the lumbar nerve canals and even the sacrum. I went on to tell him that it was quite possible that there was another problem at a different area of the lumbar spine or sacrum. I further suggested that he might want to come to the office and let me take a look. If I found a problem above or below the level of the surgery, I would be able to adjust but if it was at the same area, he'd need to check back with his surgeon.
If you are having a similar problem, you may want to have a chiropractic physician check you out. Just because you have back pain again in no way indicates that your surgery was unsuccessful. It may well be that you have another problem that developed after the successful surgery.
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