Subject: RE: Sciatic Nerve On average, studies have shown that after 5 years the level of pain and function is nearly identical for surgery vs. non-surgery for herniated disks.
I'm not going to take the time to lookup and paste the references here, but trust me, I'm a doctor, I know that much to be true.
But as an individual, that means nothing. Whjat is important is the pain & function in the intervening 5 years.
Surgeries can go horribly wrong with bleeding, infections, injury to a nerve, etc.
But when your entire leg is weak and you can't walk...not even because of pain, but because the muscles have stopped workign...then surgery is a good option as it was in my case.
I had one of the worst and most bizarre herinations and nerve injuries that my orthopedic surgeon had ever seen, I woke up from anesthesia pain free and the fuction has returend to my rigth hamstring & calf, adn I've done tris & bike races for the past 3 years.
Everyone's case is different and you need to get a 2nd opinion of your not satisfied with ice/heat/rest 2 weeks. |