Why wasn't surgery recommended first?
Friday June 26, 2009
Many orthopedic probelms eventually require surgical treatment. Sometimes arthritis requires a joint replacement surgery, or spinal stenosis may eventually require spine surgery for appropriate treatment. After having spent months or years doing non-surgical treatments, many patients wonder why surgery wasn't recommended at the outset.
There are several reasons surgery may not be recommended as an initial treatment:
- Simple treatments may be sufficient
Often simpler treatments may be sufficient to relieve symptoms of your condition. Even when pain is severe, surgery is not always necessary to address these symptoms. Simpler treatments may be a good thing to try first. - Surgery can lead to complications
There is a famous saying among surgeons that "there is no problem that surgery can't make worse." This may seem cynical, but the point is that there are very real complications to surgery, and the easiest way to avoid complications is to try to avoid surgery.
Do you think your surgery was unnecessarily delayed? Share your thoughts here!
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Comments
Dr. Cluett,
Four years ago I fractured my left calcaneus in seven different places. I arrived at the emergency room and was told by the doctor there that I would need to have surgery. So then I went to visit my orthopedic doctor after that and he didn’t recommend surgery. I went to get a different opinion after that from another orthopedic specialist and he recommended surgery but my original orthopedic doctor still insisted not to do surgery. The point is, I am still to this day having complication with my foot. I now go to a pain management doctor every month just to try and help with the pain a little. The doctor has me on three methadone ten mg pills and one norco ten mg pill a day. Even that still does not take away my pain. What would you recommend??
44 year old woman with stage 4 osteoarthritis in right knee laterally. Currently diagnosed with another piece of torn meniscus
‘floating’ around in the joint space, along with a tear of the acl.
Ortho doc suggested TKR 3 years ago, but at that time I could not have the surgery due to other family obligations (I was lone caregiver for father after stroke). Now knee is so painful, doc has me on nsaids, vicodin and muscle relaxer 3x daily. New ortho doc states only that he will do cortisone injection(which didn’t work 3 years ago!!), and will not do TKR since “you are too young for this surgery”.
What exactly is “too young” and what could possibly be my other options for treatment at this time?
Just for reference, I am treated by the Veteran’s Administration hospital, had open knee surgery in 1977, and arthroscopy in both 1992 and 1997 on same knee.