Treatments performed percutaneously (through needle punctures), rather than by highly invasive surgery, may reduce your exposure to surgical risks and inconveniences, such as pain, infection, blood loss, and long recovery times. There are 2 major forms of minimally invasive treatments for discogenic lower back pain:

• Intradiscal Electrothermal* Therapy (IDET*) is thought to use heat to contract and thicken collagen fibers within the disc wall, potentially closing cracks and tears and cauterizing the tiny nerve endings that can cause pain. For further information about the procedure, see About the IDET Procedure.
• Disc decompression (including disc nucleoplasty) reduces the amount of tissue in the nucleus of the disc, lowering pressure within the disc. The latest method of decompression—called disc nucleoplasty—uses radio-wave energy to reduce disc pressure.

When nonoperative and minimally invasive treatments have failed to relieve chronic discogenic lower back pain, patients might still consider invasive surgery.