According to an article on
All Star Pain Management, researchers found that "there was a significant correlation between the number of surgeries someone had and a diagnosis of fibromyalgia. Around half of people diagnosed with both FBSS and fibromyalgia had undergone four back surgeries. In addition, for those patients with FBSS and no fibromyalgia, the surgery revision rate was only 30%. In one clinical study, researchers hypothesized that patients with central sensitization underwent a high number of procedures in order to alleviate their symptoms. However, because the problem was central, and not peripheral, surgery only worsened the pain".
The lead researcher, Dr. Caballero-Manrique, was encouraged by the results. She said, " scientists were motivated to do this study simply because the impact of failed back surgery can be quite devastating". The study was slightly limited by its retrospective nature, as well as the inability to identify patients with FBSS and fibromyalgia. Caballero-Manrique felt the study was a good start, but much more research was needed.
After looking for further information on this I found that they are now saying that one in four people with failed back surgery syndrome (FBSS) also have fibromyalgia (FM) which is quite a shocking finding. Of course these studies and findings are based on research in the US where around 10 million people are affected by Fibromyalgia but this should also be taken into consideration in UK patients. It was also mentioned in an article on
The British Journal of Pain
An interesting
poster with all the details on these findings makes an interesting read.
