[AKactivemom]

I've had at least three Dr.'s (two spine surgeons) and a non-surgical spine specialist tell me my facet joints are in great shape. I'm not a candidate for the steroid facet injections I was told b/c of this factor. I grew up on a small farm riding horses all over and have been thrown at least 5 times if not more, I've commercial fished for 12 years as a deckhand starting at age 15 and my parents raised hay so I've always worked hard. My local spine surgeon feels I must have had significant trauma to L3/L4 many years ago b/c it has moderate height loss its says on the MRI but when you look at it with the naked eye, it looks like a flattened pancake and it bulges out to the front and back with significant reactive marrow endplate changes seen on the MRI T2 weighted imaging, which is most consistent with edema (Modic Type I changes). My provocative discography on 9-19-14 was positive at both L3/L4 and L4/L5 for those discs causing me pain, with of course the L3/L4 causing the most but the L4/5 not far behind. The report says my L3/4 is chemically sensitive (to so many leaks and it doesn't hold any pressure any longer) and my L4/5 is mechanically sensitive which both make sense. I don't know if this helps, but following the discography I had a inter-discal steroid shot into both discs (more into L3/4) and it was nothing short of a miracle (no pain, I could even run, bouncing out of bed, no meds, no NSAIDs, no muscle tightness) until 3 weeks later when it started to slowly fade. I appreciate your feedback though (about the facets) but the DR.'s seem to think my discs and the Modic Type I/II reactive endplate changes (edema) actively are my pain generators. Thoughts?