Question
I am 40 years old. I am suffering with severe back since four years.  Of late I am getting numbness in my left leg and tightness in the thigh.  Hence I visited a doctor who suggested an MRI and the MRI report is "Desiccatory changes with diffuse disc bulge and left paracentral herniation at L5-S1 level indenting the thecal sac, left S1 and L5 nerve roots causing compromisation of spinal canal, left lateral recess and left neural foramen. "
Doctor suggested for rest and had prescribed vovaran and gabarich.  For god sake he has not suggested surgery.

My request is that my problem is curable in toto with pt and medicines and without any surgery and is it possible for me to play sports like TT and cricket `

Answer
Hello, Sekharsarma,

Not only is that kind of problem usually correctable without surgery, it is also correctable without medicines, and medicines produce no lasting benefit, in any case.

Disc bulge commonly results from tight back muscles overcompressing vertebra of the spinal column.  Numbness comes from nerve root compression by the bulge, itself.

Correction can usually be had by means of brain-muscle training, by means of which the tight muscles can be brought to relax and function properly in movement.  Without the overcompression, discs resume their normal shape (quickly or gradually, over some weeks).

May I direct you to articles on the subject of back pain at somatics.com/page4.htm.

with regard,
Lawrence Gold