This is an excellent article on the treatment of post-surgical fusion in the lumbar spine with cox flexion-distraction. The report is specifically done on people who are experiencing low back pain that is radiating into their lower extremities and the impact it has on disability and time off from work.
It discusses what failed back surgery syndrome is, why surgical fusions were decided on by surgeons to be the “gold standard”, an overview on the history of why surgeons came to the conclusion that spinal disc degeneration was caused by instability (which has since been proven incorrect), but rather is caused by bio-mechanical changes in the spine. As well as showing the results from both surgical approach and chiropractic with intensive therapy approach.
They found that intensive rehabilitation therapy is more effective than surgery and that with a non-surgical approach are able to reduce the need for surgery by approximately two-thirds. They also found that 78.6% of patients at their 24 month follow up showed they still had over 50% continued decrease in pain after their intensive chiropractic care and therapy following post-surgery.