This term is commonly used to encompass anybody who has had surgery for the neck or the back once or twice and still remains in severe pain.
It is a label that is, in a way misused, because it encompasses any kind of pain that remains whether it is because the problem has not been fixed completely or the surgery caused problems with scar tissue. It usually requires further diagnostic tests that are easily performed using an MRI, CAT scan, myelography, nerve conduction studies, diagnostic injections to find the source of continuous pain and fix it. You should not have to suffer from this chronic severe pain and become habituated to narcotic use.
