Low back pain is the second most common disease after the flu. 80% of people will suffer from low back pain in their lifetime, and 1/4 of them seek medical attention for it. There are many causes of low back and leg pain, and lumbar disc herniation causes a large percentage of them, which can be considered as the first and foremost. The reason why patients with lumbar disc herniation develop low back and leg pain is that the herniated disc compresses the adjacent nerves. The intervertebral disc connected to the lumbar vertebrae, although called “disc”, is actually more like a “small round pie”, and the “filling” in the center of the “pie” is the gelatinous nucleus pulposus. The “filling” in the center of the “pie” is the gelatinous nucleus pulposus, and the “crust” surrounding the pie is the dense fibrous annulus. The normal intervertebral disc contains a lot of water in the annulus fibrosus and nucleus pulposus, and has good elasticity. Unfortunately, the intervertebral disc, which bears the brunt of the task, is one of the tissues that begin to age earlier in the body. 20 years old, the nucleus pulposus begins to degenerate; after 30 years old, the fibrous ring also enters the degeneration process. After degeneration, the elasticity of the nucleus pulposus decreases, the function is affected, and when subjected to pressure, it cannot be evenly transmitted, but acts on the parts of the fibrous ring where tiny fissures have appeared, making it expand and causing tears. Eventually, the nucleus pulposus protrudes from the weak lateral posterior side of the disc, compressing the posterior nerve roots (the majority of which compress the sciatic nerve), causing aseptic inflammation and sciatica: low back pain on one side, radiating to the posterior thigh and calf and foot, with numbness and dull skin sensation, aggravated by coughing and relieved by lying down. The degree of pain in patients varies widely. At the beginning of the symptoms, or during the non-acute attack period, the patient is basically painless, with only some chills and a little swelling and numbness in the lower back and legs. Most people can tolerate the pain during acute attacks, which are intermittent. The patient’s lumbar spine is involuntarily bent to one side to avoid compression of the nerve and to reduce the pain. Outwardly, the patient looks unusual with one shoulder shrugged up and half of the buttocks puckered. Once an experienced orthopedic surgeon sees this special posture, he or she can guess that the patient probably has a lumbar disc herniation. In patients with lumbar herniation, a CT, MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) or myelogram can show a lumbar disc protruding to the side and back, compressing the nerve root. This is evidence for the diagnosis of lumbar disc herniation. However, in clinical work, doctors often encounter people who have had CT and MRI of the lumbar spine for reasons other than lumbar pain and find that the discs are significantly herniated. There? Some people have lumbar discs that are so herniated that the doctors are surprised. However, after careful questioning and repeated examinations, there are no symptoms of lumbar pain and everything is as usual. If you look at the imaging results alone, the incidence of herniated discs will be high, and if you pull a random person over 40 years old to have a CT or MRI, nine out of ten will have a herniated disc. However, if it does not cause symptoms, it can only be described as a normal manifestation of aging. These “herniated discs” that do not cause symptoms are like the “gray hair and presbyopia that occur when a person grows old”. “A herniation without symptoms is not a ‘herniation’.” This is what I want to emphasize here. A herniated disc is only considered a disease if it causes the appropriate symptoms. Since it is not a disease, there is no need for treatment. Therefore, if a lumbar disc herniation is detected through a physical examination, etc., as long as there are no symptoms, there is no need to carry the burden and worry about it. Some people are so distracted by this that they even ask for surgery, which is not necessary. Some people are very fearful of lumbar herniation and think that surgery is necessary once they are diagnosed, which is actually a misconception. In fact, most patients can be relieved of pain or cured with non-surgical treatment. More than 80% of patients with lumbar synostosis do not require surgery. Instead, non-surgical treatment includes bed rest, traction, epidural closure, small acupuncture treatment, massage and tui-na, medication, acupuncture, and physical therapy.