Alright, let's clear something up. Surgery is almost never your only option...a lot of times it is the option that will get you feeling better faster. Look up the SPORT study. However, resorption of large disks by the body is common. The body responds to the rupture by releasing inflammatory mediators which cause pain but also help to dissolve the herniation. Large percentages of people in the at large asymptomatic population have bulging and even herniated disks. There was a big MRI study done on this within the last ten years that proved this. Axial, or back pain, from disk disease is best treated conservatively with PT, anti-inflammatories/steroids, and rest during times of exacerbations. However, if you do have radicular symptoms, pain running down the leg, weakness/numbness, or bowel or bladder function changes, then surgery MAY be a good option. However, the only common real need to rush into surgery is with progressive weakness and/or a combination of the bowel/bladder problems. Dude, I am orthopaedic surgeon and two of my colleagues have had bad ruptured disks with weakness and leg pain...after doing the research and talking to their spine colleagues, they decided to go conservative. Both recovered well with no residual dysfunction. Don't let anyone on here tell you that surgery is your only option. Do the research yourself and get a couple of opinions from spine ortho docs and/or neurosurgeons. Hope you back gets better.
