Regardless of what your doctor recommends as far as back surgery is concerned, no one can make the final decision for you. It’s important to be very clear as to the risks of back surgery, as well as how much it’s going to cost you. And, more importantly, you must realize that there is no assurance that the procedure will be a success. A lot of individuals who have gone through back surgery report that it was very successful and took care of their back pain once and for all.

Chiropractic spinal adjustments and physical therapy treatments are well-known non-surgical alternatives to back pain surgery. There are other, newer non-invasive treatment options, as well, that aren’t as well known. Spinal decompression therapy is a viable option that a lot of people haven’t heard about. The American FDA has approved this procedure. It is considered much safer than spinal surgery and the cost is a lot less also. Spinal Decompression Therapy is done while you are fully clothed and is a non-surgical procedure. The negative pressure it creates within the disc give the disc space to heal naturally. Since the discs are no longer compressed, oxygen and blood can get to the injured area easier and bring about healing.

Another alternative therapy that often gets good results is TENS, a treatment that relieves pain using a low voltage electrical current. Don’t overlook these newer techniques for relieving back pain. They are promising to be very effective and should be considered before back surgery. When your surgeon has explained the benefits and risks of his or her proposed surgical procedure, there are many questions you should ask. Your surgeon will need to explain to you what procedure he or she plans to perform, as there are many different types of back surgery and how the surgery will affect you.

Approximately what length of time will you be required to stay in the hospital if there are no complications. This will depend on how invasive the recommended surgery will be. A related question is, how long is the recovery time? Even if your doctor can’t tell you specifically how long your recovery period will be, he or she should be able to give you an estimate based on previous surgeries of the same type. This will give you an idea of how long before you can return to work or to your normal everyday tasks. Pain is another issue to address with your doctor. What can you expect? Will you need to get pain therapy from a specialist? Are there long-term limitations, or restrictions, you will have to cope with?

Besides learning as much as you can about the proposed surgical procedures your surgeon wants to perform, you should also learn everything possible about the surgeon. You must keep in mind that your back is very vulnerable and back surgery has the potential for causing serious problems if anything goes wrong. This is why you need to choose a surgeon who has extensive experience and a good success record for your type of surgery. Has your surgeon told you the number of times he has performed this particular surgery? Don’t be afraid to ask for this type of information. Ask your surgeon how successful this operation usually is and try to talk to some of his or her former patients who have had the same surgery.

Back surgery is probably the last thing that you want to do to fix your chronic back pain, but at least you have an alternative to look at. Before making this decision you should look into all of the possible alternatives. The best way to make the right choice is to consult many different doctors and get different opinions as to what you need to do. Then, and only then, do the back surgery if you absolutely must.