Sooo...right knee is bone on bone and leg is bowing pretty severely. Need knee replacement in both but right is more painful. Noticed atrophy in the calf and can't walk on toes on right side. Chiro told me to get a low back MRI, and go see this spine surgeon who's supposed to be very conservative. Go to appointment, only get to see his NP or PA (can't remember what he said) who is very knowledgeable, slick, and very salesman-ish which I'm not a fan of at all when it comes to healthcare...shows me the MRI and basically says your back is fucked (herniation, stenosis etc) in pretty much the entire lumbar area, and can't understand how I'm not in excruciating back pain (really very little back pain actually- knock wood). Does mention my weight training has to have helped but says don't squat or deadlift (i haven't for a long time). Starts hard-selling EMG test, their PT and their knee guy...all of which (connecting his dots) will lead to his boss fucking with my spine down the road. I already have a knee guy I want to use who is also 15 minutes away vs at least an hour for the spine guy and his crew. I also don't want my back fucked with to see if it might help when it's not very painful to begin with- too risky in my opinion. I'm leaning towards getting knee done and keep up lifting/stretching (yoga?), recumbent stationary bike and possibly cortisone and/or CBD to help my back and deal with it further if necessary.
Anyone out there had any spine work done? Any other nonsurgical suggestions? Thanks