Researchers led by Wilco Peul at the Leiden University Medical Center in the Netherlands randomly assigned 283 patients who had severe sciatica to either surgery or prolonged non-surgical treatment with"surgery if necessary:"
The researchers found that 95 percent of the people in the study felt better after a year, whether they had surgery or not. But the 125 people who had early surgery to remove the herniated disk reported feeling better twice as fast as the non-surgery group.
During that time, they reported less back and leg pain and less disability.
Thus the major benefit of surgery is having faster relief from the pain of sciatica.
Of the 142 patients assigned to conservative treatment, which included pain medication such as ibuprofen and physical therapy, 55 under went surgery during the first year because of pain.
All told, 89 percent of the early surgery group and 39 percent of the conservative treatment group had back surgery within the year.
A little less than 2 percent of surgical patients suffered complications; all recovered.
People are most likely to get sciatica in their 30s to 50s, and 80 percent to 90 percent get better over time, without surgery.
Most recover on their Own within three months. This hew"study emphasizes that people who want to postpone surgery won't reduce their chances for a complete recovery in a year, while those who feel they can't cope with the pain can justify surgery as a method to reduce recovery time. Launched: 5/24/2003
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