Conversation: The conversation between human and AI assistant.
[|Human|] I have suffered with back pain and left leg numbness and pain for eight years, this summer I injured my back worse while canoeing. Since this time I have been unable to sit or stand for more than 15 minutes before the pain shooting down my leg becomes unbearable. My most recent Mari shows degenerative disc disease at L4-L5 and a small midline annular tear. I have also just been diagnosed with piriformis syndrome of the left side. I have received steroid injections into my piriformis muscle with very minimal if any relief. My question is this, the MRI I had 8 years ago showed this same annular tear, should this have healed? Would this be fixed by surgery? Could this be causing my leg numbness and back pain and aggravating my piriformis muscle?
[|AI|]  Hi, Thanks for using Chat Doctor In my opinion it should have healed by now but if it hasn't then surgery is indicated. And this is the cause of your sever back pain and numbness in leg. The inflammation is compressing a nerve in your back leading to numbness in leg. The only way out is surgery as it has already been years it has not healed but worsened. Get a fresh MRI done to know the actual position so that the actual line of treatment can be decided