Two weeks ago I had to go to the hospital due to back pain, and I had an MRI done. The doctor told me that I have a large herniated disc at the L5-S1 compressed on the S1 nerve with annular tearing causing pain, weakness and numbness in the left leg. What does that mean? Also, i have been referred to a neurosurgeon for further treatment. With this in mind, will back surgery be needed?
#1 by DinosaurChickenNuggets on January 28th, 2012
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sounds pretty serious, so i’d say intense physical therapy or surgery.
#2 by HoffDNA on January 28th, 2012
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Some people feel really strongly that surgery is not necessary. However, I am not one of them. I had excruciating pain from a C5-C6 herniation that was so bad they had to fix it from the back (rather than the front as is usually done these days). I really doubt that physical therapy could have fixed such a terrible herniation, but then, I didn’t even try. See what your neurosurgeon says, and then get a second opinion, and in the meantime, do some research online and get a third opinion if you are not comfortable with the first two.
#3 by yahooligan on January 28th, 2012
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a disc may regenerate itself.. but it may take anywhere from 6 mnths to a year…i had severe pain down my entire left leg and xrays confirmed it to be a badly herniated disc.. i was told i also misaligned my spine (8 mnths pregnant)… iits since been 6 months and the pain has gone from a 10 to a low 4. i had a 6 week treatment plan with a chiropracter which consisted of 20 spinal manipulations and 10 minutes each time on spinal decompression..and physical therapy (bouncing on a yoga ball for 5 mins, bridges and crunches)..however, i believe the thing that helped best was the time and trued advice… BETTER POSTURE…. thats a major one. sleep with a pillow under your knees it feels sooo great…BEND PROPER, BY KEEPING YOUR BACK STRAIGHT… this means every single time….use your legs to lift, even if u just pick up a piece of paper. Doing these things improved my pain the quickest and fastest…tHese things take time to heal…..Dont rush to surgery no matter what the doc says. they make money from it and the statistics show conservative treatment is a better choice and the surgery success rate is extremely low. look it up. OH yes and try the mkenzie exercise. its laying on your tummy propped on your elbows then extend your arms..that helped me soo much, a few weeks ago, i was desprate and in constant pain.. i paid 1400 to a chiro and that was the only money i had. I would strongly advise against surgery and ask u to let your body heal thyself.
#4 by ttpawpaw on January 28th, 2012
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The answer to the first part, do you need surgery. It would be the easiest to address your problems. To use lay mans terms, annular tearing means that the bag containing your soft disc material has ruptured. Part of your disc jelly is protruding out of the sac and is pressing on part of the nerve going to your left leg. The disc will not regenerate itself. It could go back to almost normal, but never completely. It isn’t if, but when it will happen again.
You may be a candidate for a micro discectomy. Three very small incisions are made in your back and only the disc material that has squirted out is removed. The disc sac is repaired and hopefully that is the last that you would see of your neurosurgeon.
Let me give you some nevers
Never allow a procedure that has not a 5 year history of success.
Never let you surgeon use for expierience. How many have the done, lifetime? this year? last one?
Never accept the idea that you don’t need a second opinion.
Never jump to surgery before trying all other non-invasive alternatives.
I would trust the neurosurgeon more than your primary care doc. It would be good if you could get a spine surgeon to join the team. Just be cautoius going forward. You can never back up from any surgery.pp