Here's the fact that should frame every herniated disc decision: most herniated discs get better without surgery. The disc fragment shrinks over months, inflammation settles, and the nerve calms down. The real question is rarely "injection or surgery" — it's "how do I manage the months of recovery, and am I one of the exceptions who truly needs an operation?"
An epidural steroid injection doesn't fix the disc — it calms the inflamed nerve while the disc heals on its own. It's a bridge: pain control that lets you sleep, work, and do Physical Therapy during the natural recovery window.
Surgery (microdiscectomy) physically removes the disc fragment pressing the nerve. It relieves leg pain faster than conservative care — but studies consistently show that at 1–2 years, surgical and non-surgical patients end up with similar outcomes for most cases. Faster relief, same destination, plus operative risks.
If none of those apply, evidence supports starting conservative: therapy, time, and injections when pain blocks progress.
Every clinic below has Chiropractic, Physical Therapy, Acupuncture and Pain Management on one chart, so care can move between them without a new referral.
Downtown out through the north, west, south and east suburbs.
Academy, Interquest and Tenderfoot cover the north, central and south of the city.
Harmony in Fort Collins and our Greeley clinic serve Larimer and Weld counties.
Across the Valley, from the West Valley through Phoenix to the East Valley.
Yes — most do. The body resorbs disc material over weeks to months.
If 1–2 well-placed epidurals plus committed rehab haven't restored function, more injections rarely change the answer.
No. Our incentive structure is a plan that works; we refer surgical candidates out and tell you when conservative care isn't winning.
Function, mostly. Pain alone is usually managed without surgery. Weakness that is getting worse, or loss of bladder or bowel control, changes that, and those are the findings the examination looks for.
It varies widely between people, which is why it is tracked in the record rather than quoted as a figure. What the injection buys is a window in which Physical Therapy can do its work.
A board-certified Pain Management physician, in office at Northglenn, Interquest, Mesa or Westgate. Fluoroscopy is on site at Westgate and Mesa.
Not to be evaluated here. You can book directly, and appointments are usually available within the same week.
That is a common reason to be seen. The examination establishes whether the pain is coming from the operated level or elsewhere, and the plan follows from that rather than from the operative history alone.
Herniated discs are treated at every Mountain View Pain Center clinic in Colorado and Arizona — see the full clinic map, Colorado or Arizona.
