The Department of Neurosurgery at Kitano Hospital, Institute of Medical Science, has investigated the difference between cases where lower back pain is reduced and cases where it is not reduced after neck surgery, and reported the results in a paper.

In our clinic, we have often had patients say, "My lower back pain is gone" after neck surgery. To find out the truth, we asked patients undergoing cervical laminoplasty for cervical spinal stenosis to fill out a questionnaire to investigate their lower back pain before and after surgery. Using a visual analog scale (VAS), an index used to assess pain (0 being no pain, 100 being severe pain), we found that 29% of patients had a VAS score of 30 or higher for lower back pain before neck surgery.

The patients were then further divided into two groups: 30 with no back disease and 26 with back disease. In the group with back disease, the preoperative VAS score of 59.8 decreased to 54.5 one year after surgery, showing no significant improvement. However, in the group without back disease, the preoperative VAS score of 50.7 decreased to 27.7 one year after surgery, demonstrating an improvement in back pain.

In the group with lumbar disease, nine patients underwent lumbar surgery an average of 12.8 months after cervical laminoplasty, and their preoperative VAS score improved from 56.0 to 38.3 after surgery.

There have been several reports of lower back pain improving after cervical spine surgery, but this paper is the first to show that "there is a big difference depending on whether or not there is a disease in the lumbar spine." Even patients with lumbar problems may experience temporary relief from lower back pain after cervical spine surgery, but it also became clear that lumbar treatment is still necessary to resolve lower back pain.

If you are suffering from lower back pain, the cause may be in your neck, so please consult a neurosurgeon.

• Low back pain improvement after cervical laminoplasty in patients without tandem lumbar stenosis

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