Conversation: The conversation between human and AI assistant.
[|Human|] Good afternoon, I have been experiencing numbness and pain down my left leg. The numbness and pain comes and goes and walking or standing for long periods increases the pain. I have an MRI that shows that I have a couple of herniated disks in my lower back and one in my neck. I also had a nerve test that showed that on of my disks is compressing a nerve. I assume that this is what is causing the symptoms in my leg. I have seen a neurologist and neurosurgeon. They neurosurgeon said that I did not need surgery and sent me to pain management. He told me that it was a muscular issue and that I should work on my core to strengthen my back. I have been to physical therapy twice, I received several injections, and I have been to two different chiropractors. All with little to no relief. What should I do next?
[|AI|]  Hi, thanks for a brief history of you. It looks clearly that you have tried all things. Ofcourse you are right. The pain and numbness you are getting is because of the disc touching the nerve. Physical therapy should help you. But it depends on how you undergo and how long you undergo. Core strengthening exercises takes a little time for the individual to build up the core. Also, to mention that you need to focus on your hip muscles to strengthen. Taking too many injections in spine is not good and even doing more of anything with consuming medicine is not advised. Trying a rigid focus on core strengthening, hip muscles strengthening, over all body conditioning is advised. I have seen many cases with same issue and bigger as well. The quality of improvement I have seen is outstanding. Kindly stick to physical therapy, and please undergo for long number of sessions. Undergoing one or two sessions with physical therapy might not help at all. Even the effect of the spinal injection has to be utilized and once its injected the next part is the patients' effort to get the strength. Usually surgery is avoided in such cases. I wish you will follow the rigid physical therapy protocol. With the grace of God I wish you a speedy recovery.