How to Determine If You Need Back Surgery

The back, especially the lower back, is one of the more commonly injured areas of the body. However, despite this frequency of injury, surgery is often not a viable option for many sufferers of back pain. According to the Mayo Clinic, back surgery is often a last resort, as almost all cases of back pain can be healed without resorting to invasive treatment options. Knowing when surgery might be a necessary evil and when it is likely to prove fruitless can help save you money in medical costs, so be careful before electing to pursue the possibility of back surgery.

Instructions

• 1

  Research your symptoms online before scheduling an appointment with your doctor. There are a number of sites that can help to diagnose existing back issues, such as Wrongdiagnosis.com, the Mayo Clinic Web site, and Medline Plus. Perform some basic due diligence to attempt to determine whether your symptoms might make you a potential candidate for back surgery. Doing this will save you the expense of a potentially fruitless consultation with your physician.

• 2

  Schedule an appointment with your physician to discuss the possibility of surgery (or other treatment options) if your research concludes that you might require back surgery. Understand that beyond the initial physical examination and consultation, your physician will likely schedule you for any number of diagnostic tests, such as an X-ray or MRI. These tests will help to determine whether you have an injury that necessitates surgical repair (such as spinal deformity, degenerative disease, and the like).

• 3

  Practice watchful while being treated with other methods, such as physical therapy (consisting of stretching and strengthening exercises) in conjunction with the use of pain relief medication. See if you are able to produce an abatement in symptoms without resorting to expensive and painful back surgery. Only after these alternative measures fail will you truly be a candidate for back surgery. Exhaust all your other options before electing to place yourself under the knife for back problems.