Bulging Discs in back?

[mash]

Originally Posted by Blueface

Call it what you want.
My understanding is it was a post op complication.
My point is it was a surgery done by one of the best in the country in dealing with paralysis and he died.
Point being surgery is serious chit and for me personally, I am proof one can have a relatively normal life with two herniations and impingement and no surgery.
Point also is any good doctor will do all conservative treatment possible for common bulges and not immediately recommend or concur with what is always the danger of invasive surgery, particularly to the spine, housing such intricate nerves.
Surgery on the back is the option of very last resort. Bulges can and do improve. As I have said, weight is key and very often overlooked and ignored as a cause and cure.

Agreed, surgery is the last resort.
I am a doctor with Worker's Compensation, and my brother is a rehab medicine doc. Both of us see back surgery failures.
My point about Derrick Thomas is this- to highlight what happened to him as a risk of back surgery is not applicable to someone who isn't immoblized. That is the biggest risk factor for pulmonary embolism.
If I cross a street, I may get hit by a car. The chances of that happening are different if I cross a side street compared to a freeway. So, to use his case as an argument about why someone shouldn't have back surgery needs to be put into context.