back surgery yes or no

Has anyone here had lower back surgery? Are happy with it, or do you regret it?

I have severely bulging disks at L4 and L5. A lot of people are recommending surgery, specifically laminectomy, would love to hear about other people's experiences.

Sorry to hear you're struggling with this. I haven't had back surgery myself. I am a massage therapist and have worked on many people who have had lower back surgery, mostly spinal fusions. Most of them still had lots of pain (sometimes worse than before) and mobility issues. Some required further fusions later. Some of them I wanted to cry feeling what it had done to their bodies. I don't know all the details of your situation and only you can decide what is right for your body. If it were me, I would make a serious effort to look for alternatives before resorting to surgery. I have found these guys super helpful, maybe they could offer some ideas to explore. They probably have some other videos on the subject that may be more specific to you.
I hope you find your way to a pain free and healthy back!

Carl, I had L4-L5 laminectomy in 1984. I know that the technology has changed for the better since then. Even so, I am happy that I had it done. Before the surgery I was in excruciating pain and losing feeling in one leg due to the pressure on the nerves. My scar is about 2 inches long which is pretty good for when it was done. To this day I am pain free, although recovery took a while due to some bad advice from one of my doctors. He told me to rest if it hurt. That's fine to a point but moving the muscles and gentle exercise was what I needed.

For recovery, I started moving (slowly) as soon as possible. I found that after all the tissue healed up, I had to strengthen my back muscles, primarily the spinal erectors. To this day I still do dead lifts, squats, etc. with light weights to work my legs and back. Weight lifting with light to moderate weights has been one of the best things I've done. The other best thing is doing yoga to get the stretching in all the joints and muscles.

I am very strong for my age, and if nobody knew I had had back surgery, well, they wouldn't know by my ability to garden, take down trees, cut wood, lift bags of feed, etc.

My main suggestion would be to make sure the surgeon is an expert in this type of surgery. I had the orthopedic surgeon for the university football team doing mine so he was at the top of his game.

Let us know how it goes if you decide to do it.

thank you both for the feedback, very informative, I'm curious to hear about other experiences as well.

I badly ruptured my L5 in 1995.  Two doctors recommended against surgery, explaining your body will eventually absorb the fluid the ruptured out of the disc.  The third doctor said SURGERY NOW OR YOU WILL END UP WITH PERMENANT NERVE DAMAGE, but he was too persistent and (with my police training and experience) I could tell he was not being honest and was giving off plenty of signals of deceit.  I chose to not have surgery, but I learned many good things over the years that have been very helpful and I strongly recommend.
1) Ice.  Ice your lower back to reduce the inflammation and numb the pain.  Get a good quality gel ice pack, or fill a gallon ziplock bag if money is tight, wrap it in a lightly damp towel, lie on your stomach with the ice pack on your back and cover with a blanket for at least 30 minutes.  Skinny people may get by with 20 minutes, more fat will slow the time for the cold to soak in and will need more time.  Usually what happened to me is initially the outer muscles start to relax and other muscles begin to hurt more but this only lasts about 5 minutes until the cold soaks in and relaxes all the muscles.  That is usually when I would fall asleep and wake up an hour or two later when I would finally push the ice pack off my back and continue sleeping.  The slightly damp towel will help the cold transfer but will prevent the ice from burning your skin.  I wish I learned this right way, sadly it was years before a chiropractor suggested this and saved me from non-stop pain.
2) Stretch, move, and Chiropractor.  After the ice numbs your back move around, do stuff (nothing heavy) and once limbered up gently stretch your back muscles.  Sit on the floor, try to tough your toes, gently twist lift and right, basically you are carefully using the muscles and helping them gain full motion again.  Find a good Chiroprator, not necessarily one that wants to see you every day, but one that says come back in a few days or a week when you start to tighten up again.  If they let you decide they are not in it for the money, if they say come back every day for a month they want the money. (just my experience after visiting 5 different Chiropractors over the past 25 years)
3) Deep Glute Stretch is the best stretch I have ever tried, and sadly I did not learn this until about 3 years ago.  This video shows the Deep Glute Stretch first, followed by 7 other good sciatic stretches.  If you are not flexible enough to reach your shin to pull on the leg you can use a towel or belt to gently pull on the shin.  DO THIS, start with a gently pull as far as you can but do it a few times a day and each time your stretch will improve.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CbZzeO4P9YA
4)  Motrin, or generic Ibuprofen.  I was a Police Officer and refused to even try using prescription pain killers of muscle relaxers because I did not want them in my system at all, just in case.  The doctors told me to use extra strength Tylenol BUT THAT DID NOTHING.  On weekend visiting friends I was out of Tylonol, hurting terribly, and they only had Motrin.  I took 600 milligrams and within an hour the pain was greatly relieved.  One time working on the way to a call I was out of Ibuprofen and stopped at 7-11 to grab a bottle, for some reason their generic was 600 milligram tablets and I didn't read the label and just took 3.  After I handled the call I realized I had no pain AT ALL and read the bottle to learn of my mistake.  I had time to drive to the ER and ask a doctor friend about my mistake, he laughed and said I should eat something to protect my stomach but not to do that again.  Moral of the story, Motrin stops the pain, try to stay under 800 milligrams based on my experience weighing about 200 pounds.
5) Within about a year, or two max, your body will absorb most of the fluid from the disc and you will start feeling less pain, but if you follow my suggestions, especially sooner than later because I started all these way too late, you should get relief and get back to normal.
LASTLY, I did have 3 cortisone injections into my spinal canal at the injury and they worked well, almost too well for my stupidity.  After the first injection I felt OK but took a vacation and drove across country and the extended sitting was not good on the injury.  The doctor politely yelled at me for that, but I did enjoy my hunting trip so it was a trade off for me.  The second injection made me feel pretty darn good, but I was still stupid and lifted something heavy and hurt my back a bit more, I didn't mention this to the doctor because I alreay yelled at myself.  The third shot was very good, but had I not goofed up the first two I suspect the results would have been so much better.

You will hear many suggestions from others, but I have suggested this many, many times to people with new and with old injuries and those who took my advice always tracked me down to thank me for the change in their life.
Good luck.

Hi, I am mobil and do not lead a sedentary life. I chose not to have surgery because I need to flex my spine. I use the R.I.C.E. method, and Egoscue. Pain is in the 0-3 level now, which is livable. At least It doesn't hurt so much so I can't breath. Ask around a lot and try things. Different bodies need different treatments. The Postural alignment therapy has helped me the most.

I had a bad fall on a slippery bathroom floor in early 2016 - boom! Feet in the air, hard impact on the tile floor with my lumbar. Lots of pain, which increased over the ensuing weeks. Turned out I damaged my L4-L5, on top of pre-existing degeneration and disc compression: vertebrae were badly out of alignment (spondylolisthesis) and a bone spur developed, compressing nerves.  I couldn't lie down without pain except in fairly contorted positions, and both walking and standing brought pain.  Which left sitting.  Tried all the at-home back exercises and stretching that I knew, tried chiropractor (hurt more).  Chiropractor referred me to neurosurgeon.  Tried conservative approaches of injections, etc.  Was on the verge of having a disc fusion, then learned about a new technology called limiflex, that essentially involves 2 springs and some zip ties!  It enables the spine to remain flexible while decompressing the disc. I had the surgery done through an experimental program at Stanford University in late 2018.  Pain is gone, I have full movement, it's been amazing.  There is another technology available which also decompresses but doesn't involve  fusion called "coflex", which a few friends have had and are happy with the result.  Good luck!

My dad just had this surgery. Much better for him. He couldn't walk very well for 2 months. Recovery is slow but he has drastically improved.