Why Does Surgery Cause Chronic Pain?

With any operation comes surgery pain

With any operation comes surgery pain. Surgery pain can be acute, lasting a short time, or chronic, lasting for months after your operation. When surgery pain persists for two months, its known as chronic post-surgical pain, or CPSP.

CPSP is common; up to 70 percent of people who have an operation suffer surgery pain. The intensity of the pain depends on the type of surgery you have and the care you receive. Even minor surgeries like a tooth extraction or hernia repair can result in surgery pain.

Causes

The chief cause of chronic surgery pain is clear. During any operation, surgeons must cut tissue. Your body reacts to this assault with tissue swelling and adhesion formation. Adhesions (scar tissue) develop naturally as the body begins to heal itself. When adhesions form across two surfaces-say across organs or nerves-they pull on the affected body parts or restrict their natural movement, causing pain.

Other causes of surgery pain are inflammation, infection, and nerve damage on or around the incision or area treated by the surgery. (Nerve damage is serious but rare.)

For some people, chronic surgery pain is made worse by psychological or emotional strain. Depression is common following surgery, especially after breast removal, limb amputation, and plastic surgery.

Chronic surgery pain runs the full range. The pain can be sharp, dull, throbbing, stabbing, burning, or tingling. It can cause numbness or stiffness. And the pain can appear far from the incision or the area of the body treated by the surgery because often the central nervous system is over-stimulated by the surgery.

Treatments

Treatment for chronic surgery pain begins with self-care. Common pain relievers-aspirin, ibuprofen, acetaminophen-help ease some pain. Relaxing with meditation or simply sitting quietly helps in some cases. Distracting yourself with music, reading, TV, or hobbies is helpful. Focusing on the pain only makes it worse.

If the pain becomes unbearable, see your doctor. He or she might prescribe stronger pain medications, anti-inflammatory drugs, or antibiotics. Sometimes surgery is necessary to remove the adhesions causing your chronic surgery pain. But more surgery often leads to more adhesions, which leads to more adhesions, which leads to more surgery, and on and on.

Certain physical therapy methods, like the Wurn Technique, are effective alternatives to surgery for removing adhesions and relieving chronic surgery pain. These hands-on techniques help break up and naturally rid the body of the adhesions causing the pain.

by: Belinda Wurn

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