re: Lower back problems

Yes, I went through it for several years. Mine was L5 and S1. They'll start you with physical therapy. Be diligent with this. If it's early enough and the herniation isn't too bad, you'll get some relief. Next step is nerve blocks in the back. I didn't have any relief from these. The place I was getting those offered some other procedure(forget what it was, sorry) but my primary doc told me not to waste my time and sent me to an orthopedic surgeon.

4 years removed from micro discectomy surgery, and no complaints. I still get some tightness and moderate pain, but it's far from the debilitating pain I experienced before the surgery and I can usually knock it out with some ADvil or Aleve and some stretching.

Best advice I can give is try to stay away from the narcotic pain killers. I had more of them than I needed, and aside from the addiction risk, they became a crutch. I'd take them instead of doing simple stretches and exercises, so the problem just persisted and got worse. You'll need them for those times you throw it out completely and can't get out of the bed, but I was taking 4-5 everyday just to numb the pain and function regularly.