Should I have surgery?

[Entmad]

Hi,

I am new to this forum and I really need some advice. I first injured my lower back 28 years ago when I was 20. I have bad Sciatica in my left leg for about a year and could not walk or stand for longer than 5 minutes. After several months of PT I had an intensive course of hydrotherapy and this really helped. I was relatively trouble free up to about 10 years ago with only a few occasional problems up to then. I should mention I am a keen dinghy sailor and am out most weekends. However the last few years and in particular the last year have proved difficult and I now have sciatic pain most days. I have to say the intensity of this is normally only low to moderate and I do not take pain killers. Some days I hardly have any pain at all. I normally sleep ok and walk about 3 miles a day.

I have been having PT for the last couple of months, which has helped with soem of the general stiffness I had in my lower back but not with the Sciatic pain. I had an MRI last week and my spine surgeon has said I need a microsurgery decompression of the left L5 nerve root, as the disk has slightly bulged and there is evidence of a small tear. He is confident this will have a 90-95% success rate. Initially I was keen to have this procedure, as the thought of being pain free and be able to do more dinghy sailing without the fear of subsequent pain sounded great. I now can only sail in light to moderate wind conditions and then for limited periods. However having read many of the experiences of people on this and other forums I am beginning to think I should not even be contemplating surgery as my back pain is obviosly not nearly as bad as compared to others.

Any advice appreciated.

Regards

Peter