MRI results - help to understand. Bulging discs/hypertrophy management
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Hi, I'm in a complete muddle and wonder if you can help?
I've been having back and leg pain since the end of April. After seeing 4 GP's and a prescribing nurse, I had an MRI scan. Meanwhile I have been on and off work (learning support - secondary school). I have also been to an NHS physio who discovered my sacroiliac joint was out of place and effecting my lower back, she put it back into place. After coming out of place a few times, it is now where it should be and the leg pain is much reduced, so that's great.
Anyway, I got a phone call from my GP with the MRI results, saying I have a bad back (!) and to take Naproxen (I can't because of the anti-depressants I take), so he said to just take the Cocodamol he had prescribed for me previously.
MRI results:
MRI:Spine Lumbar
Normal alignment of the lumbar spine. From L3 to S1, there are mild degenerative changes with bulging of the discs together with mild facet joint hypertrophy with mild facet joint effusion. The conus medullaris and the cauda equina are normal,. A haemangioma is noted in the L3 vertebral body. No nerve root involvement is seen. No foraminal or spinal canal stenosis. No disc hernis. No evidence of nerve root compromise at the other imaged levels.
ConclusionÂ
Mild degenerative changes are not resulting in nerve root impingement. No disc hernia compressing a nerve root. Mild facet joint effusion from L3 to S1 bilaterally.
The summer came and went (due to physios annual leave I didn't see her all summer) last Tuesday I saw my physio - the first time since I received the results, she said there was nothing she could do about it, but put me on an Advanced back course (6 exercise classes) to strengthen core muscles to help support it. I have to wear supportive shoes with air cushioned soles and suggested the use of a support belt (I bought a Serola belt).
From what I understood (I did start to panic a bit, so didn't absorb all the information she gave me) my lower back is not good. They can't operate on the bulging discs because of the number of them effected. The facet joints have grown a bit of extra bone to help stabilise it (too much heavy lifting in my early 20's injured my back and had to cease the work I was doing - nothing was ever really diagnosed back then, an injection in my lower back by the GP and a course of physio)
My back had improved over the summer holidays, but has got painful again on my return to work (I do a fair bit of walking, standing, sitting and bending over when assisting students sitting at desks) I am now off work again and cannot continue like this.
I'd like help to understand, please, my MRI results and what they mean for the future. Can anything else be done? Is it likely to get worse? How do I manage myself at work as I'm in a different classroom each hour - which positions are best for my back and which should be avoided.
Sorry about the long thread - my head is a shed.
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daniellej22 jane16135
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