Persistent postsurgical pain may be one of the most common problems no one is talking about. It’s estimated that 10-50% of all surgery patients develop chronic postoperative pain that continues long after their body heals.
It’s impossible to predict the extent of the pain you may feel after surgery because each person has a different level of tolerance. The severity of your pain also depends on the type of surgery. Conventional open surgery with one large incision causes more trauma to your body. By comparison, minimally invasive surgery uses small incisions that may not need to cut through the muscle, and it also causes minimal bleeding.
When your postsurgical pain lasts 2-6 months after your procedure, and all other causes for the pain have been ruled out, you have chronic or persistent postoperative pain (PPOP). Damage to major nerves during surgery is one important cause of PPOP. However, there are many cellular changes that occur in your body during surgery that can contribute to PPOP.
Another key factor that contributes to PPOP is a condition called pain sensitization. When your body sustains the trauma of surgery, plus postsurgical inflammation and pain, then biochemical changes can occur that make your nerves more sensitive to pain.
