Epidurals can help a lot to calm down the nerve pain, so that sounds like a good start. If you can get with the right PT person after the epidural, they may also be able to help with core strengthening exercises that will help as well. Another option may be surgery, but since that can cause additional problems, you want to do that as a last resort. There's a good web resource at http://www.chirogeek.com/ that explains a lot about MRI's and back pain and treatment...you may want to take a look at that before your appointment.

Best of luck to you!

Kay