What to do about a herniated disk?

My dad has a really sore back and it's called a herniated disk. We need to find somehow to cure it, but the doctor said some people get surgery. Our dad is definately not doing that because he has a side effect of might getting paralyzed. He is a boxing coach teacher and father, so his back needs to be better! Age of: 43

I had a herniated disk about 4 years ago. Unfortunately, I did not have a choice but to have surgery. When a disc ruptures, or herniates, sometimes it allows the spinal cord to stick out of the spinal column and the bones actually compress the cord, causing lose of sensation in usually one of the extremities. This is what happened to me. I lost the ability to walk at all, and developed "foot drop". Therefore, I had emergency surgery. I have had several surgeries, and this is the only one that I woke up in less pain than I was in when I went to sleep. However, if your dad is just having pain in his back, and none of these symptoms that I described, he probably has an option of not having surgery. Years ago, my dad had a herniated disk and at that time they use to put them to bed and put them in traction. Now that is not the choice of treatment. It has been proven that the best treatment is to not over exert the back, but to keep mobile. In addition, he needs to take anti inflammatory drugs, like Motrin, and apply heat to the back. He might also benefit from physical therapy that can show him some exercises to do to help his back heal. Wish your dad good luck, and I will keep him in my prayers. Hope this helped.

Well, I can tell you, that after working with a spine surgeon, for 3 years, as a first assist in surgery, I saw alot of herniated disc's. The real need for surgery is questionable. Approx. 95% of all herniated disc patients get better WITHOUT surgery, usually within 8 weeks. That means the swelling and irritation that leads to painful symptoms will improve as the body heals itself. The other 5% may need surgery. These patients have unbearable pain, despite treatment, progressive weakness or symptoms that persist over 8-12 weeks. The real problem is trying to predict who is in the 5% group, or the 95% group. You can't tell until after the time has passed. The ones who end up with surgery are mad they had to wait to see what group they were in. The surgery is good for relief of LEG pain, but not for BACK pain. Ther leg pain is caused by the nerve root irritation, the back pain from arthritis, or the disc annular tear itself. Many people were hopeful that their back pain was going to be better, and so we cautioned them not to expect improvement of back pain, or numbness. Most properly selected patients were very happy to be rid of their leg pain, even immediaely following surgery. In all the cases I did with him, we never had a complication of paralysis. I think that is very rare.