A new study found surgery was the best solution to pain related to herniated disks in the lower spine.
"Carefully selected patients who underwent surgery for a lumbar disc herniation achieved greater improvement than non-operatively treated patients," lead author Dr. Jon Doctor Lurie of Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center and the Geisel School of Medicine and colleagues, said in a Spine news release.
Patients with herniated disks often experience symptoms such as back pain and leg pain.
The research team looked at patients who had underwent either surgery or had opted for non-surgical options such as "physical therapy, exercise, and pain-relieving medications," the news release reported.
An eight-year follow up included 1,244; about 500 of these patients were randomly assigned to either surgical or non-surgical treatments. The remaining patients made their own decisions on treatment.
The team found the patients who received assigned surgery had the best outcomes out of the group.
On a 100 point pain scale the surgery group had an average score of about 11 points lower than the participants who had not received the non-surgical treatments.
The surgery group also showed higher ratings in "sciatica symptoms, patient satisfaction, and self-rated improvement," the news release reported.
The surgery group had a better improvement rate on average, but the non-surgical group showed improvement as well.
"The long-term follow-up results from SPORT show that, for patients with confirmed herniated lumbar discs," the news release reported.
In the past researchers have had trouble determining how much more beneficial surgery is for lumbar patients because of the high rate of patients that "cross over" between treatment.
"[S]urgery was superior to non-operative treatment in relieving symptoms and improving function," Lurie said.
The study authors stated that patients who did not undergo surgery "also showed substantial improvements over time."
