Wht does this mri report say and and should the VA have done anything becidea give me pills

I'm not a doctor but I've read reports like this about myself in the past. It appears to say you have a bulging disc at the lowest level of your spine (L5/S1), and that it is pressing against the nerve coming out of that area and that goes down your leg, which is probably causing your leg pain (commonly known as sciatica). The bulge has gotten larger over time. You also have some mild arthritis in your spine at that level and at the two levels just above that area which might be causing some mild lumbar pain (or perhaps no lumbar pain at all). There is no disc bulge anywhere else other than that one area.

The good news appears to be that you don't have any spinal stenosis (narrowing of the area where the nerves leave your spine) and none of your vertebrae are fractured. Your spine is aligned properly.

What else could the VA have done? Compared to MRIs I've received in the past, your issues appear to be fairly mild - and VERY common for middle-aged folks. The conservative course of treatment for you would have been pain medications and physical therapy. More aggressive treatment would be to go in and repair the disc bulge but very often doctors hold off on doing that until nothing else works - because as the doctors will often tell you, back surgery begets more back surgery down the line. The longer you can postpone it and rely on more conservative methods the better.

One word of caution though - you want to be on the lookout much more for weakness in your leg than for pain. Ironically leg pain from a disc bulge is often not that big a deal, and people often react differently to a bulge (some get a lot of pain, others get very little). But if your leg is weak - and if, for example, you experience what is known as "foot drop" - you should have a much more serious talk with your doctor. That can lead to permanent loss of leg strength, feeling and control that CAN BE avoidable with surgery.

There is another test you should have in addition to the MRI called an EMG, or Nerve Conduction Study. It will show how much damage is being done to your leg nerve by the bulge impingement, and whether the damage is outstripping the pace of recovery.

But press your doctor further about these issues, because nerve damage is the key issue, far more so than is pain. Good luck.

Has your doctor discussed this with you?? These reports are sent to your doctor so they in turn can explain them to you.

Yo need to see a neurosurgeon...like right now...

Don't be surprised if you're shorter.