Same problem; HNP @ L4-L5, with radiculopathy/sciatica. Was losing strength & control of Rt leg. Microdiscectomy/laminotomy cured the sciatica and restored full function. Had a good five months or so back at work, full-duty. Gradual deterioration, at first back just achy, but better next day. Then needed whole weekend to feel better. Then had to back off on activity level to avoid pain flare-ups. Eventually had to quit working altogether, currently on disability. Constant lumbar pain (4 on 1-10 pain scale is my "baseline;" it gets worse from there.) Tried PT... immediate worsening of pain. Tried numbing injections @ facet joints (6 shots at once) which actually did help. Went back for the 'full monty' (Radiofrequency Lesioning... burn the nerve) which helped for only a short while, and not very much at that. Pain slowly worsening. Asked about spinal fusion as maybe a cure... surgeon sent me for a 'discography' to see if fusion would even help (turns out, NO.) THAT HURT!! Now looking at another numbing injection at one specific facet joint (L4-L5, Rt), as he suspects that piece of anatomy based on what he did in the O.R. and my pointing out the "core" of the pain. That's tomorrow. Meanwhile, the sciatica has returned big-time. If I get relief, we'll try a "carpet-bombing" approach to RF Lesioning; apparently, numbing is kind of a diffuse thing, covers a fair amount of real-estate, whereas the RF Lesioning is a precision, pinpoint thing... it's possible to simply "miss" the target with a single burn. If that fails, it looks like I'm on acupuncture, massage/energy workers, drugs, a TENS unit, and cautious Yoga. Scar tissue ALWAYS forms whenever there is tissue damage. Removing your existing scar tissue will only result in MORE scar tissue. It's futile. There's a possibility that the nerve root is adhesed (stuck) to the scar tissue, and that can be fixed; it's not the scar tissue itself, per se, but the affect of the scar tissue on surrounding structures (like adhesions of the bowel after abdominal surgery.)