I've read many EMG posts on the boards here and there seems to be many people with pinched nerves showing on EMG's. So my question is this:

If you have a positive test for EMG but the doctor says you are not bad enough to operate on then what?

And if you have herniated discs is there any surgery that will move the pinched nerve without fusion?

I guess what I am asking is how do you relieve the pressure off of a nerve? Can the surgeon just move the nerve but not do anything to a disc?

Surgery is always to be considered the last resort. One reason is once you start having it, it seams to just start all over again at different level. This causes DDD, arthritis, and a whole list of things.
One thing that can be done is PT. I know most don't want to waste time and effort at it, but surgery is no fun either. I've had 4 and I'm looking at another now for Spinal Cord Stimulator. I hope you never have the need for surgery and if just one helps fine. Good Luck.
Fancylady :)

"If you have a positive test for EMG but the doctor says you are not bad enough to operate on then what?"

Get a second opinion.

"And if you have herniated discs is there any surgery that will move the pinched nerve without fusion? I guess what I am asking is how do you relieve the pressure off of a nerve? Can the surgeon just move the nerve but not do anything to a disc?"

My husband had a herniated disc with pinched nerves. What the surgeon did was pull the disc back into place and then cut around the nerves to allow for space. He did not have to have a fusion...thank God.

While non-surgical procedures should be given a chance first, you and the doctor must decide based on lots of factors. Sometimes a discectomy to remove part of the disc will alleviate the pain and release the nerve and you can go on. With the newer ADR's (artifical disc) for some this is the answer, when PT and other methods don't work.

Two things to consider. The first which a spine specialist will tell you, but I've not had a single general neuro surgeon nor general ortho surgeon tell me: 1) time is important if a nerve is compressed, as the longer a severely compressed nerve stays compressed, the chances drop for a full recovery and 2) if you are not responding to conservative treatment of PT, medications, injections, is your desire to avoid surgery sufficient that if at that point in life that you no longer respond to meds/pain killers you realize that you will be living in pain at whatever level for the rest of your days?

That second question came to light when I was seeking second opinions wanting to avoid another surgery. I posed the question to a neurologist after an EMG, when he was prescribing neurontin and pain meds. My question was if I don't have surgery to release the nerve, what happens in time: does the nerve die and cease to give me pain, or do I have to stay on medications for this pain for the rest of my life? He said the answer was to be medicated the rest of my life, so I asked would the medications have to be stronger and stronger, and the answer was affirmative, and that at some point they might no longer be sufficent, then there would have to be surgery for implanting the device to try to interrupt the pain path.

I appreciated his honesty, but I decided that if I was going to medicate for years, and still wind up having surgery of any kind, only in hopes of alleviating some of the pain, I had to ask myself if that was really a better choice than facing the surgery then to actually repair the problem. I made my choice and continued searching until I found my spine specialist. Each of us has to look at the whole picture and choose the answer that will best work for us.

Some doctors do say that having any fusion puts stress on additional levels. Fact is, that will continue to be debated, but with the ADR's and the Dynesys flexible fusions (doubt that few general ortho or neuro surgeon will currently offer either of these as solutions) the fixed fusions will be used less and less except for people like myself who have every immaginable problem with their spine. Still, even with my 10 level fusion I know that without the surgeries, I would not be walking, I would not have control of my bodily functions, and my life would be with unbearable pain instead of leading a normal life.

Did my first surgery cause my DDD and arthritis? No, I already had major DDD and arthritis throughout my spine before I ever had even one surgery. Cannot blame any surgery for causing additional ones in my case, but can say that med's for chronic asthma and other health problems, plus 28 years of heavy work with the government had lots to do with my spine problems. Guess I'm lucky that it all waited until I was 51 before it hit, but I've survived 8 major surgeries now, and I haven't taken any Ultram for several weeks now, and needed only a couple of the Lidoderm patches today as I spent a full day painting rooms.

The best I can recommend is that if you can, find a true spine specialist instead of a general ortho surgeon or general neuro surgeon, and if surgery is needed, you've then given yourself the best chance to deal with the most effective technology available today so that you might not face hard fusion.

Best wishes, and hope the more conservative treatment will work for you.