Damaged disc

About 3 weeks ago I progressively started getting pain in my lower left hand side of my back. I saw a physio for 2 sessions of acupuncture, electrolysis and massage. Two days after the treatment I woke up in the morning with all the pain in my back gone but replaced with intense pain in my left hand butt and sharp pains running down my left leg. After about 1 week of this pain I saw my GP this morning who has stated that he believes I have damaged a disc in my lower back. The initial treatment is bed rest for 3 days and if no improvement then a scan and most probably an operation. My question is this , What is the likelihood of the bedrest helping me and if I need to have an operation will it be a complete fix or will I still require pain management afterwards? As this news is quite a shock I would appreciate any advice I can get at this point. Thanks

Dear John,

personally I don't find bedresting a resolutive solution for your problem , although a period of 1 to 3 days of absolute rest is usually recommended to relieve symptoms. An accurate anamnesis (case history) should be taken and indeed scans can clarify whether your case needs to be treated surgically or conservatively. The pain that you are reporting seems to fit with the typical radicular pain pattern coming from a compressed spinal nerve; bare in mind that loss of sensation (parasthesia or even worse anasthesia) and muscles weakness need to be immediately investigated and treated as opportune.
surgical operation can be totally resolutive for your problem although you must to consider that a herniated disc is going to inevitably affect you spine biomechanics and therefore you may be prone in future to postural related problem.

Hope that helped

best wishes

Emanuele

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Originally Posted by John365

About 3 weeks ago I progressively started getting pain in my lower left hand side of my back. I saw a physio for 2 sessions of acupuncture, electrolysis and massage. Two days after the treatment I woke up in the morning with all the pain in my back gone but replaced with intense pain in my left hand butt and sharp pains running down my left leg. After about 1 week of this pain I saw my GP this morning who has stated that he believes I have damaged a disc in my lower back. The initial treatment is bed rest for 3 days and if no improvement then a scan and most probably an operation. My question is this , What is the likelihood of the bedrest helping me and if I need to have an operation will it be a complete fix or will I still require pain management afterwards? As this news is quite a shock I would appreciate any advice I can get at this point. Thanks

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I realize this post is almost a month old but I wanted to say that ICE is always the best thing to do on any injury that is new. The bed rest may have helped but ice would have been even better. It certainly sounds like this injury MAY be a disc problem but if it is that does not automatically mean surgery. I have exercises for that on my web site if you care to see.
Denver Chiropractor

Hi John,
you need to have a radiological diagnosis confirming the disc bulge . Most importantly the extent of the disc bulge and the region.. The result could be mild-moderate-severe..
There have been instances where i have seen patients recover from a severe form of bulge
Once that happens you have 3 alternatives 1) bed rest, use an ice pack and a belt, avoid lifting weights, bending, driving long distance.
2) Above + Physio treatment session.
3) A neuro-surgical consult- to decide the use of evasive methods of approach..