According to my GP and others whom I've seen about my back, back surgeries are tricky, and more frequently than I'm comfortable with result in no improvement or even further degradation. Right now it hurts infrequently enough and I have enough range of motion that I don't want to risk surgery that may or may not give me relief and full range of motion. As things progress, that may change.
The brother who had the diskectomy had about the same amount of pain for a while after the surgery, and got a little better range of motion. As I understand it, the pain is still low, but he doesn't have the same range of motion. He also still gets back pain at about the same frequency that I do. That's less frequent than before, but still uncomfortable.
Unless you have an injury, back pain is largely caused by carrying too much weight in the front. And too much weight in the front often causes back injury, or makes one more prone to back injury. My brother and I both (he more successfully than I) have greatly improved our back problems by losing weight, stretching, and working our cores. I think that it has helped us both more than surgery would.