Surgical vs Conservative treatment for lumbar disc herniation: a prospective cohort study.

BMJ Dec 2016
Gugliotta M. et al

OBJECTIVES:
Evidence comparing the effectiveness of surgical and conservative treatment of symptomatic lumbar disc herniation.

RESULTS:
Surgical treatment patients reported less back pain at 6 weeks than those receiving conservative therapy were more likely to report ≥50% decrease in back pain and reported less physical function disability at 52 weeks.The other assessments showed minimal between-groups.

CONCLUSIONS:
Compared with conservative therapy, surgical treatment provided faster relief from back pain symptoms in patients with lumbar disc herniation, but did not show a benefit over conservative treatment in midterm and long-term outcomes.