Surgical operations can sometimes result in unexpected long-term pain.
The chance of developing long-term pain after surgery varies depending upon the type and location of surgery.
Surgeons and anaesthetists are experts on strategies to prevent post-surgical pain - but sometimes it still occurs.
Often post-surgical pain is neuropathic (nerve) pain, but not always.
At NIPM we see post-surgical pain after a variety of surgical types including orthopaedic surgery, spinal surgery, gynaecological surgery, hernia surgery, breast surgery, cardiac thoracic surgery, dental surgery, head and neck surgery and others.
If post-surgical pain does develop then your doctor at NIPM can evaluate the cause and develop a plan to help improve quality of life and discuss any treatments available to reduce pain. Strategies for treating post-surgical pain include:
- Physical therapy and psychological strategies to improve function and quality of life when living with post-surgical pain.
- Optimising medication use.
- Pain management procedures to reduce post-surgical pain. There are some potentially very effective procedural techniques for reducing post-surgical pain.
