Postoperative Precautions for Spinal Endoscopy
Post-operative precautions
1. Postoperative bed rest time.
Patients receive local anesthesia during surgery, no resuscitation and other processes are required, in addition, the surgical wound is only 8mm, therefore, bed rest is only to stop the bleeding, and you can move freely after two hours after surgery.
2. Repeated period (recovery period or edema period).
2.1 The third day after surgery will begin to show the so-called.
”postoperative reaction”, which is manifested by the reappearance of preoperative symptoms, or even aggravation, or new symptoms such as numbness, pain, soreness and weakness can appear. The duration can be very short or very long, ranging from a few days to 3 months or even longer. About 30% of patients will have various symptoms in the “recurrent period” after surgery, which can be reduced or avoided by strictly following medical advice.
2.2 The symptoms of the recurrent period are various, but they are generally manifested as low back pain, hip pain, numbness, swelling, or soreness at the incision site on the affected side, etc. There are also a few symptoms on the opposite side, most of them appear or are obvious when standing or sitting, and most of them can be relieved by themselves. If the symptoms are not relieved by bed rest or continue to worsen progressively, the MRI should be reviewed to see if endplate inflammation is present, at which time the treatment plan should be changed and the treatment period will be extended.
2.3 Special notice: the “recurrent period” is not a relapse or ineffective treatment, but can recover on its own.
2.4 The purpose of medication and rehabilitation within 3 months after surgery is to reduce or shorten the recurrent period, but there is no way to make all patients free from the “recurrent period”.
3. Late imaging changes.
The symptoms improve first after surgery, and then the imaging changes such as MRI and CT can be seen, which is the so-called “lag in imaging changes”. The imaging changes are usually after six months, and the factors affecting them are mainly age, length of medical history, whether they have received other excessive treatment, the degree of prominence, and the severity of the disease.
4. Contraindications.
4.1 No alcohol, no overwork, and preferably no “hairy food”, such as mutton and seafood, for 3 months after surgery.
4.2 Do not engage in long-term bending or prolonged squatting work or activities, such as long meetings, grass pulling, etc., within six months.
4.3 Do not lie in bed for a long time after surgery, preferably for no more than 10 hours. Otherwise, the symptoms will be relieved slowly.
4.4 Do not play computer games for a long time, surf the Internet or play cards for a long time within six months
5. Recommendations.
5.1 You should keep in touch with the bedside doctor for 3 months after surgery in order to guide the medication and rehabilitation exercise.
5.2 Medication: It is recommended to use neurotrophic drugs, blood-activating drugs and anti-inflammatory and analgesic drugs for 3 months after surgery to facilitate the smooth passage of the “recurrent period”.
5.3
Follow up: After surgery, you should come back for follow-up at the third month, six months and one year. The follow-up visit should include simple questioning, physical examination, imaging, etc. The content of each visit will vary and will be tailored to each patient’s situation.
5.4 Each patient should return one year after surgery with preoperative imaging data for follow-up MRI, CT, etc.
5.5 A review follow-up form should be filled out again one year after surgery for efficacy assessment.
5.6 Absolute bed rest without any exercise should never be allowed after surgery, otherwise there will be adverse consequences
5.7 Post-operative rehabilitation should be carried out gradually and in accordance with medical advice, and if conditions permit should be transferred to the rehabilitation department.
5.8 Rehabilitation exercises can also be performed by oneself, such as taijiquan, baduanjin, and various gymnastics, etc. can be used as exercise programs.
5.9 If the recurrence is caused by various factors such as poor rehabilitation and improper exertion, you can undergo minimally invasive surgery again, because minimally invasive surgery, unlike open surgery, leaves a lot of scars that can prevent or make the second surgery more difficult. The second minimally invasive surgery will be as smooth as the first minimally invasive surgery.