Hospital stays last from three to 5 days. Bracing is only occasionally necessary. At discharge, one can expect to be able to get out of bed independently and walk without assistance. Some help at home for the first few weeks following surgery is usually required. Most patients find that their back pain is significantly diminished, if not completely relieved.
Leg pain is very reliably relieved.
The major risks of surgery include infection, failure of hardware and failure to obtain a solid fusion. Even in cases where fusion does not result, often the patient's pain is relieved and they are satisfied with the result. If failure of fusion is symptomatic, then subsequent surgery is usually necessary to obtain a solid fusion. More substantial deficits, such as loss of control of bowel or bladder function do occur, but only rarely. The risk of complete paralysis is smaller still.