Do I Need Surgery?

Do I Need Surgery?

We often get asked this question in the clinic. The answer is very complex and many factors can play into this decision. But I want to help shed some light on a few misconceptions about surgery.

#1 Surgery guarantees you’ll get out of pain.

#2 Surgery is the fastest way to solve the problem.

#3 Recovering from surgery is less work than a conservative approach.

#4 Sometimes surgery IS the best option.

Far too often doctors and surgeons tell you the only answer is surgery. While this may be true and the best option for some, it should be said less often than you think.

Pain is very complex. Surgery can fix abnormalities found on MRI images, but that does not often translate to the disappearance of pain. Read my MRI blog post HERE. Too many times we have clients come to us months after surgery with the same pain. After 2 sessions we identify the actual problem, which had nothing to do with the actual surgery. MRI's don't give us the complete picture of our patients stories. 

Surgery is probably the slowest, and most expensive, form of recovery. When surgeons tell you 8-12 weeks for “return to function” they often are referring to when the tissues heal and your safe to begin the REAL work of true rehab.

Since surgery is the slowest option, post-surgical rehab is significantly longer and harder than you think.

You go from only rehabbing the injury, to now rehabbing the injury, surgical trauma, and effects of immobilization.

Your body needs you to be the advocate. Things often don’t need to be cut open and reassembled to get out of pain. It needs you to give it the opportunity to get stronger, deal with inflammation, and recover with adequate sleep, nutrition, hydration, and stress management.

Either way, you’ll need to put in the work. Injuries don’t heal on their own.

When your ready, click the discovery call button and lets chat about your injury.

Doc Ryan