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Pain Management
Surgery Alternatives – Surgery Does Not Have to be Your Only Option
11
Sep
Sep
With the advancement of technology, people tend to believe that there are no surgery alternatives and that surgeries are their only option to their physical pain and complaints. Surgeries like total hip replacement, total knee replacement, shoulder surgeries, and different types of spinal surgeries are pretty quick procedures that are quite commonly done these days. Surgery can bring immediate benefits and quick results in reducing pain and mobility, but there are also many adverse side effects and complications that should be carefully considered. One alternative pain program method is through the use of non-invasive methods such as extracorporeal shockwave therapy, ultrasound therapy, and neuromuscular stimulation.
Read more: Pain Relief Without Pain Killers
Problems with Surgery
Unwanted Side Effects
Firstly, short term and long term complications may arise. Short term complications that may arise include anemia, superficial wound infection, pneumonia, prosthesis dislocation, and many more. There are also chances of infections or blood clots, allergy reaction to anesthesia, or even nerve damage during the procedure. With the elderly, the greatest complication can be morbidity and mortality.
Moreover, not everyone is suitable to getting a surgical procedure done. For example, patients with weak immune system or heart diseases are not suitable candidates for surgeries. The additional complications may result in more stress for the patient, both physically and mentally. Therefore, it is highly recommended for these patients to seek surgery alternatives for their healing and recovery.
High Costs
Secondly, surgeries can be quite expensive even if you have health insurance in Singapore. To add on, the long recovery period needed means that the extra rehabilitation and care will add up to your overall costs. Other than that, many patients still experience pain for years even after having undergone surgeries. If you have a severe condition that is caused by trauma or a condition that is chronic, the success rate of surgery can be quite low.
There are occasions where surgery only brings down the pain to a manageable level instead of removing the pain completely. Sometimes a repeated surgery is even needed if there are complications. For example, after a surgery for herniated disc – discectomy, it may relieve a patient’s leg pain, back pain, numbness. However, the surgery will not stop the disc from bulging again. This will seriously hinder your activities in daily functioning life and cause additional stress in your life. Surgery alternatives on the other hand will help relieve the pain without the need for surgery. Once the pain is gone, it is always recommended for the patient to rebuild the strength of their muscles, joints, and nerves to prevent pain from recurring.
Low Success Rates
There was a study that looked into orthopaedic surgeries done on 9000 patients over the span of three years. Half of the surgical procedures were compared to non-operative methods and in comparison, half of the surgical procedures done were better off not have undergone an operation. Other than that, there was a review that compared placebo surgeries with actual surgeries that showed no differences in half of the studies.
Surgical procedures often have evidence and evidence practice gap. This means that the surgical procedures can be lacking high quality evidence for its success, or it could have high quality evidence that the procedure will not work but is still performed anyway. Many operations are often introduced before there is a good level of quality evidence on the effectiveness in the real world. This can be dangerous for the patients and should be avoided if possible.
Surgery Alternatives
At Pain Clinic @ Wellness Philosophy, we don’t believe in injections and surgery to help musculoskeletal disorders but with the use of non-invasive methods. A non-invasive method is a conservative approach that doesn’t require incision into body for the removal of tissue. We believe that non-invasive methods are the most economical, safe, and sustainable surgery alternative for you to reduce your pain and discomfort. After many years of experience in helping patients, we observed that most conditions can be improved and alleviated to full recovery via the use of clinically advanced non-surgical equipment.
Read: Non-Invasive Therapies
Some of the non-invasive methods provided includes extracorporeal shockwave therapy, ultrasound therapy, spinal decompression, neuromuscular stimulation, and medical massage. Although most healthcare professionals have used similar technologies to help their patients, the lack of understanding of the effects and benefits of these equipment have rendered it ineffective if used individually. The best way to approach common musculoskeletal pain/disorder is through the combination of these therapy methods to bring the most effective outcome.
Extracorporeal shockwave therapy has been one of our most in-demand pain therapies and have one of the highest success rates of up to 95%. With proper understanding and diagnosis of your condition, we are able to recommend suitable and effective combinations of the below non-invasive methods. Depending on what is causing you the pain, not all therapies are recommended. Therefore, it is always important to seek professional advice to understand what the underlying cause of your pain is and to undergo therapy immediately.
Patients who go through therapy programs sooner tend to recover faster and spend lesser due to the lack of complications involved in their conditions. Those who tolerate the pain and bear with it for months or even years risk themselves to higher pain severity and a more complicated condition to deal with, ultimately costing them more than what could have been if they were to seek it earlier.
The table below shows summarized information of the non-invasive therapy methods provided at our clinic.
| Non-invasive equipment | What it does | Benefits | Appropriate use for |
| Ultrasound therapy | Sound waves above the range of human hearing are used to generate vibrations and stimulate tissues around the area | Increases blood flow, reduces pain, tissue relaxation, scar tissue breakdown | Muscle strains, arthritis, muscle spasm, tendonitis, joint swelling, etc |
| Spinal decompression | Separates your vertebral bodies and widening your intervertebral foramen in your spine | Straighten your spinal curves, stimulate muscle relaxation and increase joint mobility | People with lower back pain: herniated disc, degenerated disc, worn spinal joint, diseased spinal root, etc |
| Extracorporeal shockwave therapy | High energy shockwaves are released into the affected area | Promotes the body’s own natural healing process, improves blood circulation, eliminates pain | Plantar fasciitis, tennis elbow, frozen shoulder, patellar tendonitis, muscle tension, and many more |
| Neuromuscular electrical stimulation | Electrical impulses that “retrain” muscle function and reduce pain signals to the spinal cord and brain | Increases blood circulation, maintaining and increasing your range of motion, pain management, restoring muscle function | Arthritis, sports injuries, general muscle weakness |
| Medical massage | Realigning deeper layers of muscles and connective tissue and restore it to its balanced state | Increase blood flow, reduces pain, removes adhesion, increase mobility and physical performance | Chronic aches, muscle stiffness or soreness, sports injuries, etc |
To get a better understanding of your pain and our therapy programs available to you, book a consultation with us now. Remember, surgery is never your only option.
For more information, contact us here: Contact
References
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6024591/
https://www.cancertherapyadvisor.com/home/decision-support-in-medicine/hospital-medicine/orthopedic-procedures-complications/
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