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Originally Posted by 'Hamas' Jenkins
I was never saying this wouldn't be a chronic issue. People with back injuries are more likely to suffer chronic back injuries. It's axiomatic.
There are a lot of complications here and things we don't know. Did he tear the annulus? How broad is his spinal canal? Does he have osteophytes that are irritating the nerve?
The discectomy is a quick fix. What matters is the diameter of his spinal canal. Shaving the disc back will get him space now, but no more than the normal immune process of resorption. That's why it works quickly but offers no long-term benefit. There is no Level I evidence to suggest that surgery is a superior route over many years. It is superior at several months and two years, but not at ten.
As far as a future fusion, we'll see. You actually need less rotation in your lumbar spine than your thoracic spine, and lumbar re-herniations recur at about a 5% rate for the general population, regardless of whether they chose surgical or medical management.
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Fair enough. I was speaking primarily to your contention that it was "good news, long term..." and honestly, I'm not sure how one gets there. I can't really take any good news out of back injuries for a tall athlete. I was hoping it was something in his hip/leg.
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Does he have osteophytes that are irritating the nerve?
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I kinda presumed he did, hence the utility of the procedure. If it's gonna cost him his season either way, as you've noted, a surgery wouldn't have seemed necessary to relieve simple pain from a bulging disc. I figured there had to have been something impinging there so they went in to clean it out.