Dman, sorry to hear about your pains, and fully agree with Annapurna, to treat the patient/symptoms and not the images, and qualify that there must be conditions where the images are so severe they would require intervention. I have 3 cervical disc problems (C3-C6) with varying degrees of pressure on the cord (mild to medium), and about 5 weeks ago I was involved in a bad car accident (hit 2 trees and car rolled over and ended up upside down!) with the graces of God the spinal cord was not injured. That does not mean there are no risks, but I believe some surgeons use that expression (being a fall/slip away from being paralyzed) to rush people into surgery.
I recommend leaving surgery as last option, and give therapy some time, and please note you need to find a good specialized therapist, some have also recommended the McKenzie method, but seems like my condition is beyond therapy, and now I am hoping to recover from accident injures to get back to my cervical issue, which seems to have worsened since the accident.
Wishing you will be guided to what is best for you and to be pain free & go lucky again, in near future.
__________________
7/2007 Whiplash injury
11/2009 Cervical disc herniation C3-C6 (C5-C6 worse)
2010-2013 Conservative treatments (drugs, PT, epidurals, prolotherapy, acupuncture...etc), little effect on pain
Considering surgery (typical questions, which type & which surgeon!) 
|