The purpose of this study was to evaluate the functional outcome following surgery in axillary versus shoulder type of disc herniation.

Patients who presented to Victoria & Bowring hospitals with disc herniation were divided into two groups, Shoulder and Axillary group of disc herniation. All the patients in study underwent discectomy. The study period spanned from February 2017 to July 2018 with the sample size of 116 patients.

They were followed for a minimum of 12 months.

Functional outcome was measured using Oswestry Disability Index score. The patient global outcomes were categorized based on the Modified Macnab criteria.

The mean ODI improved significantly from 66.58% to 14.00% in the axillary disc group and from 63.59% to 13.88% in the shoulder disc group (p<0.05). And the final outcome was found to be Excellent or good in 56 of the 64 patients in the shoulder disc group and in 46 of the 52 patients in the axillary disc group. Though we did not find any significant difference in the functional outcome, knowledge of the functional outcome following discectomy in shoulder vs axillary disc herniation, helps the spine surgeon provide patients information for an effective decision making.