Dear Wollpert,
No. You should be pretty good by now. Some minor residual pain sometimes is there, but you should still be much better than before the surgery. Sometimes, there can be post Laminectomy facet fractures as a problem, or sometimes instability can occur after. You probably need a CT scan to look at the bone.
Dr. Rosen
Charles Rosen, MD
Clinical Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery
Spine Surgery
University of California, Irvine, College of Medicine
Founding Director, UCI Spine Center
Orange, California
I had a spinal stenosis operation Dec. 18 , 2007 on 3 lower lamina and still have a great deal of pain. Is this normal? When can I expect to recover and not have this pain?
Dear Candisoo,
It doesn’t sound normal at all for just a decompression, if that’s all it was. Unless he has some medical problem or otherwise he should be able to walk for long distances and begin exercising by now. I’d suggest you tell his doctor what’s going on – he may not really know – and also consider your father seeing his regular medical doctor to make sure he isn’t having some general medical problem that may have been stimulated by the surgery.
Dr. Rosen
Charles Rosen, MD
Clinical Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery
Spine Surgery
University of California, Irvine, College of Medicine
Founding Director, UCI Spine Center
Orange, California