[CharlesinCharge]

I live in the Bay Area, and there are numerous places you can get a discogram from a good doctor/spine specialist. I absolutely agree that the next step for you is a discogram, because you would not want to have surgery without doing that step first. A few possible places to contact:

1) Richard Derby (Daly City, 650-755-0733) - Runs Spinal Diagnostics, and is one of the top Pain Management doctors on the west coast.

2) Adrian Bartoli (SF, 415-509-6123) - Runs the San Francisco Pain Management Center, is my personal Pain Management doctor. He is an excellent doctor and a great diagnostician.

3) Hoyman Hong (SF, 415-353-6464) - With the San Francisco Spine Center, he performed my second discogram.

4) Peter Weber (SF, 415-885-8628) - Neurological Surgeon, he can examine you and refer you to someone for a discogram (which is what he did for my first discogram, which I had with Dr. Connor O'Neil).

You can also do a google search for "spine specialists Bay Area" and get these and many other names. In my opinion it is unlikely you can return to your career without surgery if your disc is indeed torn and degeneraged, but you would not want to make the decision to have surgery without consulting with a least 2 spine specialists and having a discogram.

Good luck,