@celia16
I think it depends on what is going on in the spine.

Spine specialists and insurance companies always want non-surgical treatments to be tried first. If physical therapy/exercise, pain medications, spinal injections, massage, acupuncture, pain patches/creams, psychologists that specialize in chronic pain, home health aids, heat/ice, sleeping pillows/positions, etc. don’t help improve symptoms or quality of life after 6 months, surgery may be the only option to address the compressed spinal cord, nerve roots, nerves and the pain/weakness/numbness caused disrupted communications from brain to spinal cord to muscles/skin/organs.

To me, it comes down to mechanical stressors/pressure caused by degeneration of discs, overgrowth of bone, shifting of vertebrae, cysts/tumors, etc. that need to be addressed for longer term relief of symptoms. Many non-surgical treatments are offer only the possibility of temporary relief. As we age and our spines age with us, we need to choose if we want to continue with the non-surgical treatments that may/may not help or improve our quality of life or take a calculated risk of getting surgery with a good surgeon we trust after we do our due diligence finding a good and experienced surgeon with good reviews/ratings/experience.

For me, I am glad I had cervical and lumbar surgery. My spinal cord was being compressed and injured causing slow paralysis. I was born with a congenitally narrow spinal canal and no amount of non-surgical treatments would change that fact and how degeneration was affecting me. Symptoms improved after surgery (not all due to some permanent injury due to delayed diagnosis). I need a new cervical spine surgery at another level due to new degeneration and herniated disc at a different level. My lumbar surgery helped relieve a good amount of my symptoms (pain/weakness/numbness from back/hips/buttocks down to my feet).