I had surgery about 3 years ago . L5S1 wish I did' nt know what that ment .Thundermug I definately feel for ya . I had a herniated disk and no they dont allways heal themselfs thats BS . The amount of pain I was in was insane felt like I had a couple of knives in my back one stuck behind my knee and a broken foot constantly . Luckly I got a great doctor and he did what they call micro indoscopic diskektomy . for a couple years I was still in pain but not too bad , as a matter of fact I felt better comming out of surgery . Glucoseamine helped me out but I' m off of it now and feel great . best of luck