Can you over-treat a herniated disk?

Yes you can: You can over treat any disease. It all depends what the complains of the patient are. If the pain is very minimal and the person can control it with over the counter medication, every other form of treatment would be considered over treatment. On the other hand, there are forms of disc herniation that fail all conservative measures and need surgery. Every case is unique and requires common sense.

Depends: Sometimes they are not the cause of a pain as they can be found in people who have no spine problems. For those that it does, most just get better with time. Additional help can be through: activity modification, guided exercise , medication, epidural steroid injections, and if all fails, surgery. Being a smoker, obese and not an exerciser but you at a higher risk of failing treatment.