herniated discs

what are the pros and cons of surgery? or should it be the last resort? any other treatments beside physio? thanks!

My husband had an op for a herniated disc 2 months ago, after being in pain for months. He'd tried physio, acupressure, even a chinese herbalist. The relief from pain was almost instant after the op. Nobody could believe how well he looked. He's very glad he had it done.

Every case is different for spine, and different surgeons may sugegst different options.


Conservative treatment is definately best if effective, no doubt about it.


However, chronic spinal pain, as well as the incapacity issue, can cause mild depression. NB, many patients with chronic back pain end up inadvertly as prescription med addicts,and this can have a flow-on effect to many aspects of personal life (even if mild addiction).


DO THIS:

if you are in general a pro-western med sort of person:

get referal to both neuro and ortho surgeon (at least two referals)

see how comfortable you feel with either,

hear their opinions/pro's and con's

make your decision then.


Spinal surgery is a last resort, but can be quite effective.


A particular ex-colleague who is a spinal surgeon maintains he only operates on a very small percentage of patients presented to him (he does take a slightly more conservative and management approach, but is not a big fan of the conseravtive "doping" method.

Another ex-colleague whose main practice is upper spine again is eraltively conservative, but takes a "no-meds" sort of approach, particularly post-op.


I'd be happy with giong with either of these guys considered opinion personally, but I know them well and over a long period of time.


You have to find someone you feel comfortable with and remember, clinical outcome (both operative and non-operative) is very much determinant on patient compliance. So if you feel comfortable and trusting, you are more likely to comply and get a better result in any event.


Rambling, but been in this arena many times, and it always is:


(i) anti-operation ant-western/suspicion person (chiro/osteo/alternate and herb believer) - then unlikely to believe or trust, so above comments are totally irrelevent,as wouldn't beleive a surgeon anyhow


(ii) can it be managed (lifestyle/some physio and meds ONLY at times) - if so then best option if this option suits your lifestyle.


(iii) if you believe in "cracking the spine" and "just slipping that slipped/herniated disc back in", again above irrelevent (note, "slipped disc" does NOT simply slip out from between the adjacent vertebra, thankfully! - most will be well and truly attached, or they'd be slippnig out all the time, and comperssing neverves the whole length of your back, and every muscle and organ would do into spasmodic overload!)


(iv) if you accept there is an ongoing problem whcih conservative approaches have not been satisfactory and you don;t want to end up a junke, which may possibly be effectlively treated by some clinical interevention, and you will do yuor own resarch and balance the odds/risks/recovery time etc with the possibility of fixing the problem, then you are approaching the issue with the right attitude

I had traction for my herniated discs 10 years ago. Miraculous. The symptoms never came back. The doctor wanted me to go into hospital and have it all day, several days, under sedation, but could not do that so just went to Byrne and Hickman every morning for a few weeks.