Dan,
Have been giving painful torn disc 8 months so far to heal myself.
If your disc is in reasonable condition, apart from the tear, there are emerging minimal treatments aimed sealing tears and avoiding ADR or fusion.
The fibrin trial is one.
Biostat® System - Spinal Restoration
Increasing research is going into anular healing and repair and will bear fruit in coming years. Unfortunately there is not the same level of $ per patient incentive driving it as found in ADR and fusion.