You are experiencing the same thing that many of us have. It took me 2 years to find a doc that actually diagnosed and helped me. I was in so much pain in the beginning and pretty much bed ridden. I went to chiros, PT, neuros, you name it. I really thought that the doc that I was seeing was incompetent when he told me that nothing major showed on my MRI. Anyway, it was a pain management doc that finally helped me and diagnosed what was going on with me. I have been told that only the worst of the worst issues show up on MRI. PM docs have many more diagnostic procedures than just xrays and MRI. I am sorry that you are going through all of this but do not give up. It will just take finding the right doc to help you. Good luck and keep us posted.

Hi. I can relate to your frustration. I have been through the same drill on and off for 2 1/2 years and now 7 weeks into latest back issue after reinjuring myself a few weeks ago when I was starting to feel better. I tried playing racquetball and made everything 2x worse. I am trying to figure all this out myself but I did start seeing a PT lately that I really really like. This is the 3rd PT I've seen in 2 years and by fare the best and most knowledgable. They have me doing core strengthening exercises exclusively. I have been taught core stuff b4 but they have me engaging 3 muscle groups which is new to me. I can see how this is going to help stabilize me and hopefully avoid reinjury in the future. They are teaching me to always have my core muscles engaged just that most of the time they will be at a 2 but when I do something strenous I might ramp up to a 5 or an 8 etc..

The 3 muscle groups they have me working on are the following:

1) Deep Ab muscles. If you have tried Pilates this is the primary muscle I remember them focusing on

2) Pelvic Floor. This is the muscle you use to do a Kegal exercise

3)Multifidi muscles in the lower back. This one was totally new to me. If you try to pinch your upper glut (butt muscles) and move the contraction up to your lower back area this is that muscle. It's easy to feel it if you lay on the floor on your back with your legs bent and gently push your heels up so you feel a contraction in your lower back.

If this interests you I can share some of the exercises they have me doing. For starters I am contracting all 3 muscles at the same time 1000 times a day. The goal of course is to naturally have them all lightly engaged all day.

Anyway, hope this is interesting and helpful. You are definitely not alone with dreaded chronic back pain. I was told 40% of MRIS are misinterpreted and more or less useless so don't give up. I am in the same boat with my tests, nothing has been diognosed from any of them.

PS JJ - It took me 2 years to get a doc to approve me for an MRI. Every doc I have seen has told me MRIs are overly sensitive and pick up things that don't even cause pain. So not until I saw my current spine doc did I even find someone who was willing to let me get an MRI. Both my MRI and EMG were "normal" and an EMG is the test that supposedly only picks up things that are seriously wrong. I had a PT tell me 40% of lower back MRIs are misdiagnosed. So interesting that you have been told otherwise. I'm in Seattle. Where do you live?

Before you have another MRI, I would suggest that you have a flexion X-ray if you haven't done so yet. It sounds to me like you might have spondylolisthesis, which is just a long word for slippage. I say that because of how you described your pain --

"all little things that arch my back, backwards."

Spondy is when one vertebra slides over the top of the vertebra beneath it...and it usually occurs at L4-5 or L5-S1. You can read more about the condition here:

http://www.spine-health.com/video/spondylolisthesis-symptoms-causes-and-...

http://www.spine-health.com/information/degenerative-spondylolisthesis

The last link contains information on degenerative spondy. There are four types of spondy and the symptomology is pretty much the same...so you might read through it even if some of it does not apply to you.

Hope you can get some answers soon.

Gwennie