Pain alone may be the reason that people decide to have surgery, nerve compression and the threat of nerve damage and resultant injury is the reason the surgeon does the surgery. No surgeon will guarantee pain relief, as a significant percentage have either residual pain, unchanged pain or in a few cases worse pain. There is a greater certainty of reduced risk of damage from nerve compression and that is the main reason that the surgeon recommends the surgery, whether he relieves pain or not, the job is to protect from further serious damage. Pain relief convinces the patient, nerve damage limitation compels the surgeon.