Pain that persists or returns after spine surgery. The name is unkind and the situation is common.
What it is
The surgery may have been technically successful and the pain still persists — because the operated structure was not the only pain generator, or because a new one has emerged.
Common contributors: adjacent segment degeneration, epidural scarring, sacroiliac joint overload after fusion, and central sensitization from years of untreated pain.
How it usually presents
- Pain that never fully resolved after surgery.
- Pain that resolved and returned months or years later.
- New pain in a different location.
- Leg symptoms in a different distribution from before.
How we treat it
- A fresh diagnosis rather than an assumption that the surgery failed.
- Sacroiliac joint assessment — commonly the real source after lumbar fusion.
- Epidural injection and adhesiolysis where scarring is the issue.
- Neuromodulation assessment in selected cases.
To be assessed, call (314) 310-5577 or request an appointment.
Common questions
Does this mean my surgery was done badly?
Usually not. It far more often means the pain had more than one source, and only one of them was operated on.
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