I’ve been dealing with herniated discs for almost 9 years now, and had surgery on 2015. My situation was really bad so I HAD to have surgery (will save the details cause they’re not pleasant). But in one of my talks with my surgeon, he mentioned that if you performed MRIs on everyone, 75% of the population would have herniated discs because, as you said, it’s part of aging. Some people will never know they have them, for others, it will be very painful. It all depends on how the disc are affecting people’s mobility and whether or not their affecting the spinal nerves. PT is the best first step, in my opinion.

I had herniated disc in my neck and I 2014 they had moved so much I could no longer walk and had emergency surgery and rods placed in my neck to correct the situation. I have but one regret is that I did not act sooner with a surgical option. Early. Surgery would have eliminated years of chronic and mobility issues.