Hello, thank you for your concern and question regarding your boyfriend. My opinion is that the surgery should be the last step for herniated disc and only after all other treatment alternative have been used and failed. I do not know the grade of the disease and what are the complains ( pain, numbness of arms or weaknes of muscle and reflexes) but usualy i start the treatment with pain relieve and some sort of collar for immobilsation of the neck for few weeks. Then continue with physiotherapy procedures such as ultrasound magnettherapy and tens but not manipulations. Most of the time the hernia will shrink down and absorb. If your situation is the same or worse after 6 month you can start to think about the surgery which nowdays is done with small incision and the complication rate is very low. I wish you a quick recovery.