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Back Pain and Surgery
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Back Pain and Surgery
My mom had 8 back operations.
I do wonder: Was the first one truly necessary, and did that first operation set her on the next step on a treatment conveyor belt?
A recent article by A Midwestern Doctor argues that back pain has become one of medicine’s biggest business opportunities. The typical pathway often looks like this:
Pain → medication → injections → surgery → more pain → more procedures.
The article points out that while some spinal surgeries are absolutely necessary, spinal fusions have repeatedly failed to outperform non-surgical care in many randomized trials for common back pain, yet they’re performed more than ever. It also highlights inexpensive approaches used in parts of Eastern Europe that many people in the West have never even heard of.
And…When doctors only have 10–15 minutes per patient, how often is the root cause actually being investigated?
I’m curious what this community thinks.
❔Have you had back surgery? Did it help?
❔Were you offered conservative treatments first?
❔Did anyone here avoid surgery and recover another way?
❔If you’ve had multiple surgeries, would you make the same decision again?
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2 Replies
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Listen to this neurosurgeon who quit medicine, and why:
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Surgery was offered for sciatica pain after I was diagnosed with 2 herniated lumbar discs after repeated throws to the mat in a jiu-jitsu/self-defense class my freshman year of college. I did try chiropractic treatment before I had a diagnosis. I don’t think he was a good one either. I chose the conservative approach to wait and I ended up gaining weight with less activity. The fix came with time and gentle exercise. I have had bouts of sciatica throughout the years and one really bad one about 6 years ago. No surgery. Mild levoscoliosis was discovered in the last 3 years and I have got some significant relief with some stretches and breathing. My mom had surgery for lumbar herniated discs and at 90 she now has severe scoliosis upper and lower. Did that play a part in this I wonder?
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