Course of Recovery

Most patients will experience an increase in their typical pain (back, back and leg) after the procedure. The post-operative pain gradually subsides over the first 1-7 days. Typically, most patients will return to at least their pre-procedure pain level between the 7th and 14th post-operative day. See Figure 31.

Single level cases may experience improvement (over their pre-operative symptoms) within 4 weeks post-op, but it may take as long as 12 weeks. Two level cases usually require at least 6 weeks to feel improvement. Soft tissue type buttock and back pain, possibly accompanied by tender musculature (gluts, ITB,paraspinals), may become noticeable 2-4 weeks after the procedure. This is normally transient and may be buffered with light medication.

Between 8-12 weeks, depending upon patients comfort level, the patient should be placed in a physical therapy program supervised by and experienced spine therapist with a stabilization training background. Enhancement of lower extremity flexibility and increased truck stabilization should be the primary goals. The patient should be trained to achieve a high level 1 or solid level 2 stabilization ability, at the minimum.