Tramadol is an option for pain relief, and if used as needed, in lower doses, can provide decent relief without as severe of withdrawal (there is still withdrawal, and some say it's worse, but at low doses it is much less harmful and can provide a little anti-depressant boost). I however would look into trials or treatments offering mesenchymal stem cells, bone marrow concentrate, or similar regenerative methods. They are more robust than ESIs (epidural steroid injections, or facet injections of the same product) and use physiological mechanisms to decrease swelling and heal tissue. They are still relatively new, but you could enroll in the MESOBLAST phase III trial for free (I am a researcher, currently studying biology, biochemistry and clinical translation of stem cell therapies, specifically with emphasis on spine conditions, especially bulging, ruptured and degenerative discs). Surgical options may offer relief, but are expensive and require long recovery periods, and typically implants or fusion devices with a shelf-life - meaning they eventually need to be replaced in another surgery. Conservative measures like structured exercise therapy are also very useful.
The main thing needed to know about the recommendation for treatment is whether the pain is mainly in your back, or radiculopathy symptoms in your legs and feet. Surgery is very effective for radiculopathies, but much less so for axial back pain (pain centered near the spine throughout the axial plane in your back). Axial back pain responds very well to certain regenerative injections (Mesenchymal stem cells, bone marrow concentrate). The worst case scenario with these new treatments is you don't respond very well. There are few documented serious adverse events with these treatments (trust me, I search daily through EMBASE, The Cochrane Library, PUBMED etc. and I have also Co-authored a number of papers on the subject)
