Surgery. When is it worth the risk?

Are you pro or anti surgery? 

If you were given the choice of an operation to fix an issue and relieve your pain, would you do it? Or would you try everything you could to avoid going under the knife? 

I find that some people are willing to do anything to rid themselves of their pain, and fair enough!! Then, others will put up with an extraordinary amount of discomfort and difficulty to avoid surgery.  

The threshold for surgery obviously depends on the situation; what are the consequences if it gets worse, what are the risks of the surgery, how much benefit is the surgery likely to give? 

Sometimes we hope that if we could just cut out the sore bit, everything would be ok again, right? Unfortunately, surgery is rarely a panacea. An operation may help a little, or may help a lot, but rarely does it restore things to 100%. So, if an operation would only help a little, would that change your stance?  

For a lot of musculoskeletal problems, surgery is a last resort treatment. This is because it is a high-risk option compared to alternatives like exercise, hands-on physio, medication, or rest. There are more potential complications from an operation compared with these other treatments.  

Then, what are the consequences of not having the operation? Will there be irreparable damage? Can you get the surgery later if other options don’t work? 

I’m not pro or anti surgery, of course there’s more to it than that. If you are wanting/trying to avoid surgery, consider these 3 questions again: what are the consequences if it gets worse, what are the risks of the surgery, how much benefit is the surgery likely to give? 

For example, I currently have a torn ACL (plus a few other associated injuries). Previously, that was a direct path to surgery if you want to play sport again. But, there are some studies showing that in some cases, the ACL will heal naturally. So there is now a choice. The consequences of not having the surgery? I can’t play sport. The risks of the surgery? A graft will be taken that will weaken my hamstring, plus the operation itself is another trauma to my knee, which I won’t do lightly. The benefit? I could play sport!  

I am trialling a non-surgical option. If it heals, I can return to sport, without the down side of the risks. If it doesn’t heal, I can always opt for surgery down the track.  

So, if you’re weighing up surgery, ask these questions of your physio, doctor, and surgeon. Inform yourself from your team of experts so that you can make the best choice for you. 

If you are deciding whether you need to have a surgery, or can recover without, give us a call, we’d be happy to help you out.