Surgery’s over. Thought you’d feel better by now. Instead you’re still hurting. Maybe worse than before.

Post-surgery pain catches people off guard. You did everything right. Followed orders. Did the physical therapy. Rested when they told you to rest. And here you are, still in pain, still limited, still wondering what went wrong.

Nothing went wrong. Surgery fixed what it was supposed to fix. What it didn’t fix is everything your body did to protect the injury before and after the procedure. That’s where I come in.

I’m Dr. John Brockway at Glendale Chiropractic. Post surgery chiropractor in Denver for 14+ years. Call 720-889-1659.

Why You’re Still Hurting After Surgery

Surgery solves a specific structural problem. It doesn’t account for what happens to the rest of your body in the months surrounding it.

Scar tissue. Every incision heals with it. Problem is, scar tissue isn’t flexible like normal tissue. It creates adhesions. Restricts movement. Pulls on surrounding structures. Creates pain that didn’t exist before you went under the knife.

Compensation patterns. For weeks or months you favored that surgical site. Moved differently. Used different muscles. Your body adapted, and those adaptations stuck. Now your knee surgery is causing back pain. Your shoulder surgery created neck problems. The surgical site feels fine. Everything around it doesn’t.

Joint stiffness. Immobilization stiffens joints fast. Even after you’re cleared to move, joints don’t automatically return to normal mechanics. They need help.

Muscle imbalances. Some muscles got weak. Others got chronically tight picking up the slack. Imbalanced muscles pull your frame out of alignment and make normal activity painful longer than it should be.

Nerve irritation. Swelling, scar tissue, altered alignment, all of it can compress or irritate nerves. Persistent burning, tingling, or sharp pain after surgery often traces back to this.

Our Approach to Post-Surgical Chiropractic Care in Denver

First visit, I look at everything. Not just where you had surgery, your whole body. How you’re moving. Where the restrictions are. Where compensation patterns have set up shop.

People are usually surprised. The pain they’re feeling isn’t coming from the surgical site. It’s coming from structures that have been working overtime to protect it for months.

From there I put together a treatment plan around your specific surgery, your specific body, and what you’re trying to get back to. Chiropractic care is the foundation. What gets layered on top depends on what you need.

Treatments We Use for Post-Surgical Recovery

Chiropractic Adjustments. Restoring joint movement and alignment is usually where we start. When joints move right, muscles fire right, nerves function right, and pain backs off. After surgery I keep the approach gentle, modifying everything based on what you had done and where you are in the healing process.

Soft Tissue Therapy. Scar tissue, adhesions, tight muscles, these need hands-on work. I use targeted techniques to break up restrictions and restore normal tissue mobility. This is the part of post-surgical care that most physical therapy programs underemphasize or skip entirely.

Acupuncture. I’m licensed to perform acupuncture and use it clinically when it makes sense. Not the spa version, targeted needle placement to calm nerve irritation, reduce localized inflammation, and support tissue healing. Particularly useful when patients are dealing with persistent nerve symptoms that aren’t responding to other treatment.

Traction Therapy (Invertrac). For back surgery patients, Invertrac traction decompresses spinal segments, reduces residual disc pressure, and restores mobility in restricted areas. Especially relevant after spinal fusion, where the segments above and below the fusion are under increased mechanical stress.

Laser Therapy. Class IV laser reduces inflammation and accelerates cellular repair. Most useful in earlier stages of recovery when the goal is healing support, not aggressive mobilization.

Rehabilitative Exercise. Adjusting you and sending you home isn’t a complete plan. I give you specific exercises targeting your actual compensations and movement faults. Not generic protocols, work designed for your situation. The goal is retraining how your body moves so it stops defaulting to the dysfunctional patterns it built during recovery.

Types of Post-Surgical Cases I Treat

Back Surgery Recovery. Laminectomy, discectomy, microdiscectomy, back surgeries create predictable compensation patterns in the hips, pelvis, and legs. Ongoing back pain after a technically successful surgery is common. It’s also treatable. Invertrac traction is particularly useful when residual disc involvement is part of the picture.

Spinal Fusion Recovery. Fused segments don’t move. So the segments above and below pick up the slack, moving more than they’re designed to. That extra load accelerates degeneration and creates chronic pain in areas that were fine before surgery. I work on managing that compensatory stress and keeping unfused segments mobile.

Failed Back Surgery Syndrome. Surgery didn’t give you the relief you expected. Maybe it created new pain. The underlying cause is almost always biomechanical, compensation patterns, scar tissue, altered movement that wasn’t addressed after the procedure. Most patients see real improvement with the right approach.

Knee Surgery Rehabilitation. Replacement, ACL, meniscus, knee surgery changes your gait. Changed gait creates problems in the opposite leg, hips, and lower back. I treat the full kinetic chain.

Shoulder Surgery Recovery. Rotator cuff repair, labrum work, replacement. Shoulder surgeries reliably create neck and upper back problems. Treating the thoracic spine and shoulder girdle together gets people back to full function faster than focusing on the shoulder alone.

Hip Surgery Rehabilitation. Hip surgery reorganizes how your entire lower body moves. Effects show up in the lower back, pelvis, knees, and ankles. A comprehensive approach addressing the whole lower body prevents secondary injuries from becoming permanent.

Carpal Tunnel and Upper Extremity Surgery. Hand and wrist surgery creates compensation up the chain, elbow, shoulder, neck. I address the full arm and shoulder complex, not just the surgical site.

Post-Surgical Chiropractic vs. Physical Therapy

Physical therapy matters, especially right after surgery. I’m not replacing it. I’m handling what it typically doesn’t.

PT is focused on the surgical site. Healing, range of motion, functional movement at the area of surgery. Chiropractic care covers the compensation patterns throughout the rest of the body, joint alignment up and down the kinetic chain, nervous system function, and areas away from the surgical site that are generating pain.

Most patients benefit from both. Start PT post-op. Add chiropractic when you’re cleared for more activity, or pick it up after PT ends and you’ve plateaued.

When to Start Care

Depends on your surgery and your surgeon’s instructions. Some patients start a few weeks out. Others wait several months.
I work within whatever restrictions your surgical team has set.

Once you’re cleared for physical therapy or normal activity, chiropractic care is typically appropriate.

Had surgery a year ago and still don’t feel right? It’s not too late. I see patients years post-operatively all the time, still carrying unresolved compensation patterns from a surgery they thought was long behind them. The body responds to treatment regardless of how long the dysfunction has been sitting there.

What to Expect at Your First Visit

About a half hour. We cover your surgical history, current symptoms, what you’ve tried, what you’re trying to get back to. Bring surgical reports or imaging if you have them, useful but not required.

Then a full physical exam. How you move, where restrictions are, alignment, compensation patterns, strength, joint mobility. I review any imaging, explain what I find without the clinical jargon, and build a plan from there.

Sometimes first visits include some treatment, gentle adjustments or soft tissue work, to see how you respond and establish a starting point.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is it safe to see a chiropractor after surgery? Yes, when done correctly. Technique gets modified based on your surgery type and where you are in healing. I never push against surgical restrictions and coordinate with your surgical team when it’s warranted.

Will adjustments damage my surgical repairs? No. Treatment is directed at compensations, alignment, and mobility throughout the body, not at what was surgically repaired.

How long will I need care? Depends on how complex your surgery was and how long compensation patterns have been building. Some patients resolve in weeks. Others with layered surgical histories need several months. I give you a realistic picture within the first few days based on what I actually find.

Will insurance cover this? Most plans cover chiropractic care. We verify benefits before your first visit so there are no surprises.

Still in physical therapy? We can run concurrently. PT and chiropractic complement each other. I coordinate with other providers when it helps.

Ready to Complete Your Recovery?

Call 720-889-1659 to schedule your post-surgical evaluation at Glendale Chiropractic. Let us know you’re recovering from surgery when you call, we’ll set aside enough time for a thorough assessment.

Surgery got you part of the way there. Let’s get you the rest of the way.

Glendale Chiropractic 425 S. Cherry St., Suite 307 Denver, CO 80246 720-889-1659

Serving Cherry Creek, Capitol Hill, Highlands, Wash Park, Glendale, and surrounding Denver neighborhoods. Free parking at the building.