I Have A Disc Herniation and Don't Want Surgery, What Are My Treatment Options?

When considering spinal surgery, always remember two things: once you change the anatomy of your spine, you can't change it back, and always pursue treatment options from least invasive, to most invasive.

After I share this information with you, you may be upset because no one ever told you this, and it may be to late for you to go back. I see patients on a daily basis that are trying to avoid spinal surgery.  We use a variety of evidence based treatments, and have had great success with neck and lower back disc herniation and bulging discs with a treatment we offer called non-surgical spinal decompression therapy.  You should view the testimonials and the end of this blog post and listen to just a few of the testimonials our patients have given us due to their success with spinal decompression therapy.  When you are going through the medical management of a spinal condition like a disc herniation or bulging disc, you need to know what your options are, and you need to make sure you don't skip a step, because if you do, cost and risk goes up.

This is a common protocol for the treatment of a spinal disc herniation that takes you from least invasive and least cost, to most invasive and most cost.

1. Physical medicine treatment: chiropractic or physical therapy
2. Oral medications
3. Pain injections, typically cortisone epidurals
4. Discectomy
5. Laminectomy
6. Spinal fusion
7. Spinal cord simulator implant

If your doctor recommends that you skip one of these steps, there needs to be a good reason, or you are putting yourself at greater risk with higher cost.  I wanted to share this protocol because I've met numerous patients over the years that never had these options presented to them, and they ended up with a surgery that was not successful and now have long-term pain and disability. Sometimes spinal surgeries aren't successful, and it's not that they are bad, actually I'm very thankful we have them because they can be absolutely lifesaving.  The problem comes when conservative options are skipped, and a surgery is performed that is not favorable, and then you can;t go back and try the conservative options you should have exhausted initially.  Make sure you exhaust all your options before having surgery.