Will I Need Surgery?

The decision to operate on a patient with a peripheral nerve injury can be quite complex, and depends on the type of problem, how long it has been present, how successful nonoperative treatments have been, how severe the neurological deficits are, etc. Therefore, hard and fast rules that apply to all patients are impossible to identify and list. Nevertheless, some generalizations may be made:

If you have sustained a peripheral nerve injury that resulted in a neurological deficit such as severe weakness or numbness, and it has not improved with three months of nonoperative management, then an operation is likely indicated.

If you have a peripheral nerve entrapment syndrome causing a neurological deficit and/or pain, and your symptoms progress or fail to improve with a trial of nonoperative management, then you might be a candidate for surgery.

One thing to remember about peripheral nerve problems, they are seldom life threatening. There are very few peripheral nerve emergencies (although there are a few). Peripheral nerve problems may range from the mildly inconvenient to the totally devastating. The purpose of surgery is to enable you to have the maximal amount of motor and sensory function with as little pain and disability as possible.