The authors had studied the clinical follow-up of 47 patients with nerve root symptoms and herniated nucleus pulposus (HNP) who received only a conservative medical treatment. All patients had low back pain with radiation to leg and were diagnosed as HNP by lumber spine MRI and as radiculopathy by electrodiagnostic study. All patients han undergone bed rest, steroid therapy in 5 days and tapered following 2 days, and a physical rehabilitation program.

Clinical follow-up after 17-40 months showed that 37 patients (78.7 percent) had good results, There were no statistically significant difference in outcome in the patients with sensory change and neurologic weakness and the degree, type and severity of HNP in the MRI findings and the presence of low grade of abnormal spontaneous activity in the study of electodiagnosis. But there was a significant positive correlation with symptom improvement during bed rest and the mild physical activities.

As a result, this study demonstrates that herniated nucleus pulposus of a lumbar intervertebral disc with radiculopathy can be treated very successfully with conservative method.