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A Dutch trial of people with back pain radiating down one leg found that surgery helped speed recovery at first, but made little difference six months later. The debate about the value of back surgery for slipped discs continues. Most bad backs get better by themselves, and there isn't a strong link between how badly the discs between our vertebrae have collapsed and the degree of bother from them. So disc removal is controversial – unless the pain is incapacitating and you have signs of nerve damage. Studies of surgery for less serious back pain have been mixed. A Dutch trial though involving nearly 300 people who had back pain radiating down one leg for over six weeks found that surgery doubled the speed of recovery in the first few weeks compared to usual care, but by six months and certainly a year, the gap had closed. Nearly half of those assigned to non-surgery crossed the floor to have the knife, which made the results harder to analyse. At two years, 20 per cent of the people still had problems regardless of treatment. The costs, by Australian standards, were quite high – but the results suggest that if you've had back pain going down into your leg for six or eight weeks, and you need a faster recovery and understand the risks of surgery, it is an option worth considering.
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