Prognosis for unresponsive bulging discs?

Prognosis for unresponsive bulging discs?

Q:

Age: 36 Sex: M Concern: Chronic pain

Greetings,

I am a 36-year-old architect that had led an extremely active lifestyle. I played competitive volleyball and surfed, biked, and played tennis recreationally. I have had a sciatic condition for about 15 years that flared up regularly causing sharp lower back pain radiating down my right leg.

About two years ago pain began on the left side that would cause the band of muscles running across my low back to spasm disabling me for days at a time. An MRI showed two bulging discs, one on each side a level apart. Chiropractic was fairly effective in relieving these conditions, although my activity level was restricted. Recently, my sciatica has become extreme on the right side. Now it is a severe burning/throbbing in my calf, hamstring, and gluteus' with less severe back pain.

Have undergone 14 weeks of physical therapy, which only increased the pain. Is surgery likely to relieve these conditions? Might any of the new minimally invasive techniques allow me to return to competitive sports? Any advice or experience with similar situations would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Steve

-- Steve

A:

You can look into the new procedure called Intradiscal Electro Thermal (IDET).

I will upload my talk on LBP and all the slides on my web site next week. You can learn more about it there.

-- Sherman Nam Tran, M. D.

to ask Dr. Tran.