Do you live a sedentary lifestyle? IF so, I'd suggest that you get some activity into the body. The muscles and joints require occasional exercise in order to fire up and get your blood moving! Gentle, mild exercise like yoga, tai chi or qi gong can REALLY help relieve joint pain and spinal alignment issues.

"However, the MRI was normal"
Yes, MRI's are all but worthless unless you want some surgery.
You will need to see a specialist who understands how the body works. Not someone with a wall of diplomas and who only relies on "clinical double blind studies".

MRI's are not worthless, they are very valuable tools in diagnosing a patient's medical condition.

MRI does not mean surgery or that you want surgery.

That statement does not make any sense.

MRI can rule in or rule out a medical problem/problems but it doesn't follow suit that if you have an MRI you will have surgery.
That idea is absurd.

Many people with spine problems have an MRI done, are then sent for physical therapy to treat the underlying problem and never have surgery done.

I know over 25 people that have been treated that way for spine problems AFTER THEY HAVE HAD AN MRI DONE PER ORDER OF A SPINE SPECIALIST.

If a spine specialist suggests any kind of surgery, one should get several other opinions prior to even considering surgery.

All conservative measures should be tried before any kind of spinal surgery is done.

But to say that "MRI's are worthless unless you want some surgery" is a worthless statement that has no merit or value to anyone on this forum or any other forum.

Fran