Slipped Disc: Surgery Best for Pain?
Study Finds Time Often Heals Pain of Herniated Disc -- But Surgery Works Faster
Some 500 patients said they'd let the computer decide, although many of them soon reneged and chose the treatment not picked by computer.
The result: After two years, nearly all the patients were doing better.
However, those who got surgery reported slightly better results than those who got nonoperative care.
Another 743 patients said from the start that they'd make their own choice between surgery and nonoperative care.
After two years, all of those patients were doing a lot better.
But those who chose surgery reported the best quality of life and the least pain.
What all this means to Abdu is that patients have to decide. For some, the right decision is surgery. For others, the right decision is avoiding surgery.
"Our study would suggest that, regardless of how you are treated for a herniated disc, you will likely get better over time," he says.
But, "If your pain is intolerable, you will be much better after the operation," he says. "You may still have a little pain or numbness -- but the chances of this are much less with than without the operation."
The study appears in the Nov. 22/29 issue of The Journal of the American Medical Association.
Slipped Disc: Surgery Best for Pain?
Study Finds Time Often Heals Pain of Herniated Disc -- But Surgery Works Faster
Waiting Works, Surgery Works Better continued...
Some 500 patients said they'd let the computer decide, although many of them soon reneged and chose the treatment not picked by computer.
The result: After two years, nearly all the patients were doing better.
However, those who got surgery reported slightly better results than those who got nonoperative care.
Another 743 patients said from the start that they'd make their own choice between surgery and nonoperative care.
After two years, all of those patients were doing a lot better.
But those who chose surgery reported the best quality of life and the least pain.
What all this means to Abdu is that patients have to decide. For some, the right decision is surgery. For others, the right decision is avoiding surgery.
"Our study would suggest that, regardless of how you are treated for a herniated disc, you will likely get better over time," he says.
But, "If your pain is intolerable, you will be much better after the operation," he says. "You may still have a little pain or numbness -- but the chances of this are much less with than without the operation."
The study appears in the Nov. 22/29 issue of The Journal of the American Medical Association.
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