MRI results - what next?

[!Emily6014]

Hi all, what a wonderful thread, although it has taken me about 4 hours to read all the posts from 2008! Please forgive me in advance for my lack of terminology - after suffering for around 6 months with sciatica and back pain i have received my mri results today which show a prolapsed/herniated disc in L5 and a tear in L4. My questions are where do i go from here - the results were given to me by a gp the results suggested an surgical procedure, my gp says I have to go through triage? which i think is physio first - I have already had minipulation from a chiro which seemed to make it worse! Have thought of going to pay for a private consultant - how do I go about finding a good one? Someone on here suggested it's best to get a consultant that also works in nhs to speed things up? Who determines which op I have? Also do I see a neurosurgeon or an orthopaedic consultant? I hope all this makes sense as i am a bit overwhelmed by all that I have read this evening. Many thanks in advance

 

[chicken joe]

I would find someone that specialises in postural analysis, and someone that focuses on re-training your core. These are the most important factors for sustainably preventing lower back pain.