Usually, a lumbar discectomy (microdiscectomy) procedure is performed on an outpatient basis with no overnight stay in the hospital or with one overnight stay in the hospital. It is usually a good idea to get out of bed and walk around immediately after recovering from anesthesia. Most patients go home within 24 hours after surgery, often later the same day. Once home, you should avoid driving, prolonged sitting, excessive lifting, and bending forward for the first four weeks.

A microdiscectomy surgery is actually more effective for treating leg pain (radiculopathy) than for lower back pain. The impingement on the nerve root (compression) can cause substantial leg pain, and while it may take weeks or months for the nerve root to fully heal and any numbness or weakness get better, patients normally feel relief from leg pain almost immediately after a microdiscectomy surgery.

The success rate for a microdiscectomy is approximately 90% to 95%, although 5% of patients may develop a recurrent disc herniation at some point in the future.

Following a microdiscectomy surgery, a program of stretching, strengthening, and aerobic conditioning is recommended to help prevent recurrence of back pain or disc herniation. Some surgeons restrict a patient from bending, lifting, or twisting for the first six weeks following surgery. However, since the patient’s back is mechanically the same, it is also reasonable to return to a normal level of functioning immediately following surgery. There have been a couple of reports in the medical literature showing that immediate mobilization (return to normal activity) does not lead to an increase in recurrent lumbar herniated disc.