Conservative Treatment

In most cases, the first step is to try relieving your symptoms without surgery.

Conservative treatment has several pillars, each working through a different mechanism. This page gives you the big picture; each treatment is explained in more detail on its own page.

What You'll Learn

• What conservative treatment means and why it is tried first
• The four pillars: medications, exercise, nerve blocks, and bracing/physical therapy
• What the clinical guidelines say about each approach
• When conservative treatment reaches its limits
• When surgery should be considered