Herniated disks in back

So me an my boyfriend were just in a car accident not too long ago on the 15th of november, we were tboned on the driver side, my boyfriend was the driver an we were able to finally get the results from his MRI and he has small herniated disks in T5-T6, T7-T8, and T8-T9 without central canal stenosis. I was just curious as to if anyone on here has had that or simular an if you were able to avoid surgery or if you had surgery were you able to work after or if youre not able to because of it?