Can stretching prevent back-surgery?

Now I don't want to come across as over-dramatic here but I've had a number of cases in my clinic recently whereby patients have been advised to have surgery due to MRI findings such as disc bulges or spinal stenosis. I always tell patients that the decision to have surgery can't be based on imaging alone, it should be based on how you are feeling.

Now this is where stretching comes in. The muscles of the back don't have a "pain-index". Whether there is a serious problem or not, they contract with full force. It is often the case, that simply by relaxing these muscles, even to a small degree, much relief can be felt, even in the more "serious" conditions.

Stretching along with regular exercise and good posture is vital for helping to relieve the pain caused by tight muscles. Muscle is dynamic tissue, it can become tight and painful quickly but it can also relax and be pain-free quickly. Muscles which are tight, fatigue fast and give pain. Stretching helps to restore the normal, healthy, architecture of the muscle fibres and the muscle as a whole and thus restore function.

Since many painful conditions result in muscles contracting, stretching muscles

regularly not only helps relieve pain immediately, it might just keep you away from surgery.