Managing Pain after Surgery
Dec 22, 2015
After a surgical procedure you need to give your body the time it needs to heal itself. This can be especially difficult if you are in a lot of pain after your operation. This article will focus entirely on pain after surgery. We will discuss the various types of pain that you may experience after your procedure, and how to effectively manage that pain while you recover.
Every surgical procedure comes with at least a small amount of pain. Surgery is technically trauma to your body – the surgeon has to cut through tissue and muscle to access the necessary bodily region. At the end of your procedure (whether it’s a spine fusion, or an ACL repair), your surgeon will sew up the surgical incisions. These surgical wounds take time to fully heal and during that time you may experience a degree of pain as you recover from your surgery.
There are many methods that can be used to manage patient pain following a surgical procedure. The most common method is pain medication. When you first come out of surgery, and in the first couple days that follow, you may be prescribed a strong opioid painkiller like Oxycodone. These should only be used when the pain is most severe. As your body continues to heal and the pain dissipates, you should ween yourself off of these stronger opioid medications and on to less addictive painkillers like over the counter NSAIDs. Post-op pain can also be combated with physical therapy exercises, massage therapy, and even injection therapy in certain cases.
If you are dealing with post-op pain after a surgical procedure, make an appointment with a pain specialist to discuss your options. The pain doctors at Advanced Spine & Pain Clinics of MN have been helping Minnesotans manage their pain for over 20 years. Our experts can develop a pain relief strategy that is tailored to your unique situation.