I was originally diagnosed with a slipped disc/s by the hospital physio-terrorist. (2005) She was able to give me the acupuncture treatment, too. And it did provide considerable relief (much to my surprise because I was a little sceptical, to be honest). However, it just deals with the 'pain' rather than sorting out the cause of the trouble.
I went for an MRI scan (2007) to confirm the diagnosis and see just which disc/how many was the problem.
My hospital consultant decided that the spinal-injection may give me relief...so I had it (2007); and I was reasonably content with this, as I didn't want to undergo surgery if there was another option. Again, I did get some relief but not as much as was hoping for.
The injection does have a limited life and by the time this was ending, the disc was still pressing on the nerve.
I went for a second MRI scan (2010) and obviously the disc was still there and still bulging so my Consultant and I decided that surgery was the best option, which I had later in the year.