I originally herniated my L4 in 2008, when I was 18 playing high school football. An orthopedic surgeon told me to give it time to heal. He didn't want to do surgey on me because of my age. Well I went to PT, and tried to stay active. One morning after going on a light 1.5 mile run I awoke to my left leg completely numb and immobile. I went into the er where a new MRI showed the L4 and now the L5 bulging as well. The doctor said I had a meowing of the spinal canal, and my lumbar was bending out the wrong way some. I deal with numbness from the bottom of the knew down, shooting pain from my lower back down my legs and what feels like someone sticking an icepick into my lumbar are where the discs are. It has now been 5 years, it has not healed and I now have a pinched nerve up in my neck which causes tingling and aching in my left arm down to my fingers. I have tried injections, pt, stretching, nothing has helped and pt makes it hurt worse. I'm only 23, and I can't see having this lack of quality of living forever. I had a pain specialist tell me to learn to live with it. I don't really accept that, an d I guess my question is would a fusion help, and how bad is the immobility in the area of the fusion?