I thought you were all better... Pain after back surgery, half starting treatment within a year

Jul 31, 2025

I thought you were all better... Pain after back surgery, half starting treatment within a year
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The results of a large domestic study on 'management of pain after back surgery' have been published in an international journal.

Professor Kim Beom-seok and Professor Na Yong-jae of the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine at Chung-Ang University Kwangmyeong Hospital and Professor Kwon Woo-geun of Neurology at Korea University Guro Hospital analyzed the frequency and trend of spinal injection treatment for three years after lumbar fusion based on data from about 83,000 people.

The findings were recently published in the European Spine Journal.




The study revealed through big data on health insurance that nearly half of patients who underwent lumbar fusion are receiving repeated pain treatments after surgery, which is significant in that it awakens awareness of the need to manage pain after surgery.

According to the study, 36.1% of patients who underwent surgery had epidural block, 12.8% had medial branch block, and 6.2% had posterior joint block. About 30% of them started their first pain treatment within six months of surgery and nearly half within a year, the survey showed. This shows that the pain is often not resolved by lumbar fusion alone, and continuous management is required even after surgery.

In addition, patients who received injection treatment showed two to three times higher rates of reoperation than those who did not. This suggests that long-term treatment plans are required depending on the patient's condition, along with difficulties in controlling pain after surgery.




The researchers continue to need various management strategies depending on the patient's pain condition, rather than seeing that the treatment is completed only by surgery"This study is the first large-scale analysis in Korea to confirm realistic treatment paths after surgery through health insurance data, and will be an important basis for patient counseling, treatment planning, and related health care policies." In addition, the patient's journey after the surgery is not over"In a message, both patients and medical staff need to be aware of the importance of postoperative pain management.



I thought you were all better... Pain after back surgery, half starting treatment within a year
(from left) Professor Na Yong-jae and Professor Kim Bum-seok of the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine at Chung-Ang University Kwangmyung Hospital, Professor Kwon Woo-geun of Neurology at Korea University Guro Hospital







This article was translated by Naver AI translator.