I didn't have any back pain before the surgery....I thought I had sciatica -- the pain in my left leg is different than the pre-op pain --- that was shooting, stabbing spasms. Now it's a dull, fairly constant ache - sometimes in the front of my thigh or back of it & down my leg. The motivating reason for the surgery was we are headed to our timeshare on Maui in early March & I thought elective surgery, close to home, would be a better choice than emergency surgery there.