[Maria]

I definately agree w/Dale re checking out your options. I had a very good GP that referred me to a Neurosurgeon when I felt like I could no longer function as I was altho I must admit I would have used an Orthopedic surgeon perhaps if I had known a bit more about options at the time.

I also agree re the chiro tho I didn't put it like Dale that was more or less what I meant by I wouldn't have utilized one re my spine. Not to say there are great chiros out there tho it's best to know if you have something that would be made worse by chiropractic treatment vs. better.

Since you stated you have an annular tear I thought you had already seen a specialist who referred you to the physiotherapy to see how that worked for you. Even so if you've seen one specialist I generally recommend seeing a few esp. if surgery is being recommended tho even if not and you might want to know what other options you might have in terms of types of surgery to hopefully resolve your problem.

Good luck with all that. You are young and while you may be able to live as you are if it were me and my limitations interfered with my working I'd be wondering about surgical options (as I was and did). Ditto on contacting Mark as he has helped many of us here me included!

I don't think Dale was too blunt. Sounded helpful to me in a direct way.