Mid back pain for 3 months ..help!!! A mystery diagnosis

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Hi, im a 41 y o male with this dull middle back pain ( around T-11 or 12) for about 3 months now. It came out of nowhere, and it usually is fine and starts hurting around 5 pm after work . When im walking and up and around it doesnt really hurt , but when i sit in a comfy soft chair it kills. Pain is like a 4 out of 10 , its dull and maybe it will go away for a day but it always comes back. I dont remember doing anything to my back what so ever. I can move around fine . went to the doctors 3 times but he keeps wanting me to go to physical therapy but i keep telling him its not mechanical. He finally gave me an x ray of my thoracic spine and it was totally fine. What do i do ? is it just anxiety like he says? .. He also told me its a muscle spasm... But for 3 months?!! I also smoke so of course i look on google and now im convinced i have lung cancer that spread to my spine . I should have never looked it up . So do you guys think i should just give the physical therapy a try and let it spread all over ? or just go the ER and get a ct scan?

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    hey Jason sorry to hear you’re struggling. i can relate so much. maybe sharing my story will help assure you. nearly a year ago to this day i started with mid back ache/pain every single day. no apparent cause. caused me a great deal of health anxiety. i had every test you could think of and nothing came out of any of them. after 3 months and a lot of reluctance i finally agreed to give physio a try and did it for about 6 weeks. the therapist there told me she could feel the spasms in my back. can’t believe you could have a muscle spasm for MONTHS. i stopped after 6 weeks as i dont believe it was making any difference. but finally in late spring of this year it let up. so for 8 months i suffered physically but more so mentally. may i ask what you do for work? i believe mine was due to long periods of sitting in my home office with poor ergonomics. i still have mid back issues on and off but believe my anxiety about it being something serious has lessened which has helped release any further tension i was holding in my back. try your best not to think the worst. easier said than done i know! here to chat any time. be well.

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