Does Scoliosis Surgery Hurt?

Written and reviewed for scientific and factual accuracy by Dr. Austin Jelcick, PhD and Dr. Matthew Janzen, DC. Last reviewed/edited on February 27, 2020. First published August 29, 2018.

Many patients with scoliosis who are considering ask the question does scoliosis surgery hurt? What levels of pain can patients expect from spinal fusion surgery, and how long does this pain usually last during recovery? Although many surgeons may say otherwise, researchers have conducted scientific studies to assess whether spinal fusion surgery causes pain, how much pain it causes, and how long the pain lasts.

Pain experienced immediately following scoliosis surgery is described as “severe” and “a challenge for the anesthesiologist.” (Borgeat and Blumenthal 2008) Doctors manage pain severity by increasing the use of drugs such as, intravenous morphine, acetaminophen, ketorolac, methocarbamol, and diazepam.

The more severe the acute pain following surgery, the greater the likelihood that it will give way to chronic, debilitating pain.  Debilitating pain limits a person’s ability to perform daily activities, such as walking to the bathroom or eating a meal.  Researchers found that 42% of adolescents experience debilitating pain one year after surgery.  This compares to only 5% experiencing serious pain prior to surgery.  Researchers did not count children with a chronic pain rating below 4 out of 10, so the actual incidence of chronic pain after scoliosis surgery may be significantly higher.  (Chidambaran et al. 2017)  This is contrary to the common claim that recovery from scoliosis surgery is complete in 3-6 months.

Frequency of Pain Following Scoliosis Surgery in Children

Predicting Risk for Chronic Pain Following Scoliosis Surgery in Children

Researchers identified several risk factors that significantly contribute to long-term chronic pain, including:

  • Number of Vertebrae involved: The more vertebra involved in the scoliosis surgery, the higher the rate of chronic and persistent pain.
  • Number of Hours in surgery: For every hour increased in the duration of surgery, there is an increase in the odds of developing chronic persistent pain by 2.16 times
  • Prior Pain: Having pain in the spine prior to surgery is predictive of higher risk for having pain 1 year after the surgery.
  • A High “Child Anxiety Sensitivity Index”: This is a standardized questionnaire that measures the anxiety sensitivity of a child; the higher the score, the greater the risk for chronic pain persisting beyond 1 year.
Scoliosis surgery post-operation pain distribution graph

Many people often believe that scoliosis surgery is the only treatment option for scoliosis. This is simply not the case. Scoliosis Care Centers offers a variety of comprehensive, individualized nonsurgical treatment options with high rates of success treating mild to severe scoliosis. For more information on the misconceptions about scoliosis please read Are Wrong Beliefs About Scoliosis Hurting our Children.

References

  1. Borgeat, Alain; Blumenthal, Stephan (2008): Postoperative pain management following scoliosis surgery. In Current opinion in anaesthesiology 21 (3), pp. 313–316.
  2. Chidambaran, V.; Ding, L.; Moore, D. L.; Spruance, K.; Cudilo, E. M.; Pilipenko, V. et al. (2017): Predicting the pain continuum after adolescent idiopathic scoliosis surgery. A prospective cohort study. In European journal of pain (London, England) 21 (7), pp. 1252–1265. DOI: 10.1002/ejp.1025.