SPINAL SURGERY

My 70 yr old husband hurt his back June 3 putting new windows in the house and could barely walk with similar symptoms you described. MRI indicated disk bulge at the L4-5 and Spondylolysis at L5-S1. Our doctor recommended physical therapy and said 80% of the time it will get better on it's own with therapy & rest and that surgery wasn't always the solution.

Hubby thought this can't work, but went anyway. He was amazed at how much better he felt after a week and was able to get rid of the walker he was using after the month was up. He did the therapy for 1 month and decided he could do the rest of the exercises they gave him at home. After 4 months now, he is pretty good, except when he tries to lift things too heavy and strains his back, then it takes him 3/4 days to get back in shape.

I had two herniated discs which caused pressure on the spinal column....which resulted in pain down left leg and numbness in calf & foot.

Put off surgery for years. Finally went to a neurosurgeon!!!

Bandaid/10 stitches......removed the bugling areas on discs and removed some bone/reamed area around swollen nerve.
I had been putting up with the pain for so long I forgot what it was like to feel so good.

Salt Lake City has some top notch hospitals/surgeons.
Get referrals then check them out
Here is one resource for checking out neurosurgeons........LINK

How far do you want to travel?
I have a greet neurosurgeon in Nashville. This is all his team does. Spinal and brain surgery.

Maybe a neurosurgeon? I fell off a ladder in 2009 and crushed the L2 vertebrae into pieces. Did vertebreplasty (sp), fusion and pedicle screws. This was in Illinois. Had an excellent neurosurgeon. Shop around, research, more research, referrals. Knew two other friends that ended up worse off. One almost died due to poor surgery/surgeon. I am walking and getting around. Do alot of research before you decide.