I'd avoid surgery if at all possible. Used to work for an ortho, and they make lots of little mistakes at times, nothing major, but it might cause you issues years from now. Extra cuts, scar tissue, etc.

I pinch nerves in my neck fairly often. It's happened since high school, and every once in awhile I can't turn my head to either side, which makes for fun conversations with people.

At two times, I went to a chiropractor to help fix things. He made it feel better for a couple days, and if I went to him for 2-3 times a week for a couple weeks, it was more manageable, and went away. If I did nothing, it was very painful, but went away in about 4-5 days.

So the chiro "managed" the pain, but also prolonged things more. This happened twice, two different people.

Since then I've gone to better pillows and being more careful about what I do.

Not that chiropractor doesn't work, but I agree with Matt above. It manages things, moves them around, but doesn't necessarily fix the fundamental cause.

Try it if you like. It might work for you, but be sure you take care of yourself. Hopefully you'll have a long life and career, so make it enjoyable.