How common is post-procedure pain?
Most patients report that their pain is gone immediately after the procedure. Patients who still have pain after the procedure usually fall into one of the following three categories: 1. Untreated fractures: Medicare and most insurance companies limit treatment to one or two levels. Most patients with more than two fractures will notice significant improvement. Sometimes, if we fix the most painful fractures, that will unmask pain at the other fractures. If this occurs, the other levels can be treated after about 2 weeks. 2. Incisional pain: Mild incisional tenderness is normal for a few days and resolves by 3-4 days in the majority of patients. This is usually not a problem except in patients who are on chronic pain medication (such as methadone, lortab, and darvocet).
