A large scale study spanning over six years, was recently published in the Feb 15th issue of spine. The study was lead by Dr. Trang H. Nguyen, who practices occupational medicine in Cincinnati. Like my previous claims and those of similar published studies, results proved once again that spinal fusion surgery for bulged disks causes more damage than good.
Two groups of patients were randomly selected. Both groups were chronic low back pain sufferers chosen from Ohio’s worker’s compensation patients. Workers had bulged disks, or herniated discs, along with spinal stenosis and other spinal degenerative conditions. One group of 725 people was treated with fusion surgery, and the second lucky group’s treatment included physical therapy and exercise.
Reason number one not to have spinal fusion surgery: Pain
Not only did spinal fusion surgery not relieve their low back pain, but for 41% of the group, conditions worsened forcing them to take higher doses of opioids. In fact a staggering 85% of the fused group had to continue taking pain killers. Of the lucky group that did not get cut, opioid use dropped to 49%.
What was the main reason for cutting them up and fusing their discs? Oh yeah, to get rid of their pain.
Reason Two: The method
So let’s talk about the spinal fusion operation. According to the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons, approximately a quarter-million spinal fusions are performed each year, half on the upper and half on the lower spine. I would assume that such a large number of operations would make an expertise out of one. Not according to the numbers shown in the study.
36% had complications from surgery, 27% had to go through hell again, including three patients who could not get enough from going under, and went through the procedure four times.
Or perhaps it’s not the doctor’s fault for these horrific numbers; perhaps it’s the method itself. Surgery simply does not work for back pain. So if you are considering surgery for your bulged or herniated disc, please take a moment to read the table I created below.
The question is, will this research along with others such as the one published in the Journal of American Medical Association in April 2010, for example, stop this overused practice. That research indicated that the use of complex surgical procedures such as spinal fusion to treat back pain had risen 15-fold over the prior six years despite the fact that the operations are riskier and not necessarily more effective.
Reason three: Work
In the surgery group, only 25% returned to work, a quarter of the group, as opposed to two thirds of the non-surgery group. That is almost a three fold difference.
In terms of days off from work, people who did not have surgery had a quarter of many days off work as opposed to the miserable group that went through surgery.
Reason Four: Disability and Death
Oops, the operation was a success, but the patient died. Yes, there was even death in the group that went through surgery, along with meningitis, and kidney failure. In terms of disability the surgery group had five times more disability cases that the lucky 725.
Reason Five: Re-operation surgery
Going through it once is bad enough, but a staggering 27% of victims had to go through the operation again to fix something. Stop to ponder on this statistic for a moment, especially when you know that this surgery simply does not work for a bulged disk.
If you know anybody who is thinking or considering having spinal fusion surgery, please send them this article.
How’s your back?
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