Call Today to let one of our expert therapists answer any questions you may have regarding failed back surgery syndrome (727) 347-HEAL (4325) or email us at info@stjohn-clarkptc.com.
Paul St. John
Founder of the St. John Method of Neuromuscular Therapy
Excuse Me… I Think My Back Has Failed!!!
Integrative Neurosomatic Therapy Approaches to Failed Back Syndrome.
Yes, they call it Failed Back Syndrome (FBS). An interesting name, since this diagnosis is only given after spinal surgery has been performed. In all fairness, this syndrome is also sometimes referred to as, Failed Back Surgery Syndrome (FBSS) or Postlaminectomy Syndrome. No matter what it’s called, the result is chronic, often debilitating, low back and/or leg pain. The therapists at the St. John-Clark Pain Treatment Center successfully treated many cases of FBS and the analysis is always the same: Postural distortion that lead to the patient’s original back pain was either not detected or not addressed. Correcting postural distortion is the most fundamental principal of Integrative Neurosomatic Therapy. Successfully applying this principal offers hope to those suffering from FBS.
As stated above, the characteristics of FBS are pretty straightforward : Chronic low back and/or leg pain following a spinal surgery. As the name Postlaminectomy Syndrome would suggest, the symptoms associated with the syndrome are manifested after a laminectomy operation. However, our experience tells us that FBS can occur after other kinds of spinal surgeries as well. The pain experienced with FBS often manifests as deep aching or sharp specific pain, nerve pain (such as tingling, numbness and 
burning), and/or superficial hypersensitivity of the skin. These symptoms can be severe enough to disable a patient and are often treated with opioid medications. Studies have shown patients suffering from FBS suffer greater levels of pain and lower quality of life and function than those that suffer from common chronic pain syndromes such as rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis, and complex regional pain syndrome. In addition to the physical pain associated with FBS, there is also tremendous psychological distress associated with this type of chronic pain, with depression often being a major outcome of FBS.
Why does FBS develop? Patients that end up with FBS tend to fall into two categories: those with cases where the surgery was never appropriate or was never likely to produce the desired result, and those with cases where the surgery was indicated but the procedure performed was incomplete or inadequate. A lack of understanding of the source of the initial pain is a problem for both categories. Surgical errors- operating on the wrong structure or inattentiveness to other variables- seems to be a key factor in the second category. In case after case, we find that postural distortion originating from either muscular imbalance or structural asymmetries is completely overlooked as the root cause of pathologies in the lumbar spine. Some pathologies have been identified by the medical community as the cause of FBS pain: recurrent disc herniation, spinal stenosis, scar tissue formation inside and outside the dural membrane, infection and damage to nerves during the surgical procedure. While Integrative Neurosomatic Therapy can do little for the 
infections and nerve damage mentioned above, it can have profound effects on disc herniation, spinal stenosis, and scar tissue.
Here is a key factor to the source of FBS, as we see it… A surgeon can perform procedures to repair damaged or pathological spinal structures, but without addressing the causal postural distortions, the patient is likely to experience further degeneration of spinal structures and continued pain - even levels categorized as FBS. The bottom line here is that the failure in Failed Back Syndrome is not the patient’s back but a failure to see the body as one functional unit. The specialization in our medical community can often lead us down the wrong path when it comes to FBS. When we explain the principals of Integrative Neurosomatic Therapy to our patients, the common sense factor seems to be one of the first things they notice. The analytic aspects of our work make so much sense to those who experience it. Looking in depth into the origins of our patients’ back pain allows us to treat the body as a whole and solve the problem – not just treat the symptom.
