I had surgery because of a disc herniation in 2000. I had a bad time before the surgery for about 10 years and massages used to do what painkillers wouldn't do. About 5 years ago I broke 2 ligaments of my foot (Surgery, almost a month without walking and then a walker boot, blah, blah). I started to do yoga as part of the rehabilitation therapy and found that it was very good for my back too.