Oh, joy! Another riveting tale from the annals of spine surgery, where we learn that a whopping 7% to 12% of all disc herniations decide to go rogue and become far lateral. These rebellious discs, preferring the scenic routes of L3/4 and L4/5, seem to have a penchant for causing their human hosts a special kind of radicular agony, especially when they dare to bend sideways. But don’t worry, back pain is “less of a feature,” so that’s a relief, right?

Enter the Wiltse approach, a surgical technique older than the moon landing, which apparently still holds up today as a less invasive way to sneak up on these sneaky discs. It’s like a tactical SWAT team for your spine, minimizing muscle atrophy, infection, and blood loss—because who needs those complications?

Our case study stars a 53-year-old woman with back pain and a rebellious right L3 nerve, who, after weeks of suffering, decides to give the Wiltse approach a whirl. And would you look at that? Six weeks later, she’s bidding adieu to her radicular pain and saying hello to stronger hip flexion and knee extension. It’s almost as if the surgery worked or something.

And for the visual learners out there, there’s even an image at 5:50 in the Surgical Video, graciously provided by the original Wiltse team. Because nothing says “educational material” like vintage surgical footage. So, hats off to the Wiltse approach, the oldie but goodie that still gets the job done.