[Maria]

Hey John,
So glad to read that you're feeling relief! Yes I agree that the things that could be done prior to recommending surgery are the things that should be recommended and tried before surgery if not an emergent situation not to mention be covered by insurance however oft times I think when the patient mentions something such as the Oxygen-Ozone Therapy because it's really pretty low on the cost level it's not attractive to enough for surgeons to offer and probably not utilized enough therefore documented enough for other practitioners to use widely and have insurance cover... so the shots, the knife, the drugs .. (the big guns) are the way to go re money making!

The conservative path one usually has to take here in the USA at least if insurance is involved at all doesn't really allow for much in the way of patient suggesting what they might want to try rather it's a pretty straight shot prior to surgery whether one wants to follow all that or not while they suffer and pursue pain relief (as insurers would have it re authorization for treatments based on evidence based information and peer reports etc and loads of red tape that takes so long).

As you stated it should be criminal to offer less of what might work more at least at certain stages with certain populations of the spine suffers out there. Especially as there are so many of us. Sadly we, the spine sufferers can be big money for those that treat our problems or horribly long suffering while we wait for various treatment plans to be authorized and/or not receive care at all because we have no insurance or no money or high deductibles and not enough $ or maybe almost the worse being WC coverage.

I'm glad you're doing better and I do hope you continue on this way. Please keep us posted!

Maria