I Need Helpful Answers Regarding My Lower Back Pain

generally, to me it reads there is not too much wrong.
you have slight expansion of the discs which some doctors might advise you need caution in how & what you do.
A question i woulkd ask, are you drinking enough water? & that doesn't include any drinks that have water in them, i mean straight water. Dehydration & lack of correct salts can cause back pain. do some searching on the net on correct hydration & also vital functions of salt in the body, if a doctor is telling you that salt is bad for you he is only telling you half of the story there are certain salts that are essential elements for the existence of life. These salts are the second most required element after oxygen! Applied correctly(with water) they will normalise our blood pressure & give us good health. if a doctor tells you otherwise then find a doctor that agrees because he has read the books on basic physics.

GottaGetBACKonTrack,

In terms of the report; with normal disc height, the degenerative changes are minimal. You do not have any tears of the annulus of the disc nor any disc herniations. You do have some slight bulging of the disc toward the spinal canal. These protrusions do touch the thecal sac (the sheath with contains the spinal cord, nerve roots, and the cerebrospinal fluid). However, at the lower lumbar level, there is no spinal cord in the thecal sac, it ends at the level of L1. Lower down the sac contains the nerve roots, floating in the CSF, called the cauda equina (horse's tail). That is why a lumbar puncture can be down at that level without worrying about hitting the spinal cord.

At the L5S1 level the disc protrusion also touches the nerve roots as they exit the spinal canal. But, the hole which the nerve roots go through (neural foramin or canal) are wide open (patent). There is no compression of the nerve roots.

The facet joints in the posterior aspect of the vertebra don't show any degenerative changes or arthritis.

You do not have any spinal stenosis. The canal dimensions are normal.


The results of any study have to be correlated with the patient's history and physical examination. That is why it is so important to discuss these results with your surgeon.

Good luck.

Read the first three chapters in the book "Pain Free" by Pete Egoscue. It wil be in most bookstores.