Hi i am Dr Ahmed Aly thanks for using healthcaremagic site , I had gone through your question and understand your concerns .. In my opinion if medical treatment by painkillers , physiotherapy ,topical gels massages , muscle relaxants , steroid injection fail for 6 consecutive monthes i recommend for my patient to try spinal manipulation followed by minor endoscopic interventions to free nerve compression and herniation which maybe enough for some patients others may need spinal fixation and plating surgeries are needed for permenant treatment and to prevent its recurrence . Sometimes early treatment and diagnosis are life saving and doing it earlier is better than doing it after going in an ambulance when no other choices you have soo i suggest you take more than one neurologist opinion for doing a surgery and if you needed it i recommend you go for it and dont worry nowadays surgeons are more developed and such operations are done daily . Please click THANK YOU and consider a 5 star rating with some positive feedback if the information was helpful. Hope the above information helps you, Any further clarifications feel free to ask.