Good news! After many bouts of extremely painful physio my lower back problems are beginning to get better, at least now I'm mostly pain free. A few things to share and learn from this experience.

1) Doctors in private hospitals want to operate and make it sound all so easy, this is because they earn between 75k and 100k for a four hour operation.

2) Orthopedic surgeons in government hospitals have a different agenda, they see an operation as an extreme last resort.

3) between 8 and 9 out of 10 prolapsed disc cases will resolve themselves naturally over time, the length of time depends on how much physical therapy you can take and whether or not you use the right pharmacy.

4) Heat pads, ultrasound, electrical stimulation, stretching exercise and ice are all very useful treatments.

5) Targeted anti inflammatories and muscle relaxants such as Myonal, Gaba100 and Myospa work very nicely and are not harmful or addictive over the short or medium term.

6) Finding a physio who understand the human body in detail is essential but they are not always easy to find. I use one who is a 10 in this respect.

7) If you're going to have the op to fix a disc, ask the surgeon beforehand how long after the op it will be before the next disc up the spine gets damaged and that also has to be fixed.....they don't mention this at the outset.

8) If you want to avoid a prolapsed disc, do back exercises and the muscles will support the spine, the bird dog exercise is ideal and is not taxing. If it is too hard to do, just do the leg portion only.

www.runnersworld.com/uk/training/cross-training/a42592393/bird-dog-exercise/