Painfree has a good point...

Do check out the Levator Ani, Piriformis and Glutes!!

I have lumbar facet degeneration at L4, L5 and S1. All of this time I thought the lumbar was causing the problems "where it counts". And I was wrong! At least in my case anyway. Prior to finding this all out I was doing lumbar PT and some Kegel exercises. Talk about severe pain! My PT had me to stop immediately and get to my ob/gyn. My ob/gyn noted that I had a small rectocele. She, in turn, then sent me to a Urogynecologist who ran extensive testing. The bottom line...no pun intended is that while I do have a SMALL rectocele it should NOT cause pain. The REAL problem is the Levator Ani!!! This in turn links to to the piriformis, glutes and on and on it goes.

So, my Uro told me to get the lumbar straightened out first because pelvic PT can be extremely painful. And by this he meant, get some injections; anything to calm the lumbar nerves down. So, I did this. The injections worked and I could definitely isolate then that it was the pelvic floor.

Now, in two weeks I am to get the right side facet injections (my PM only did the left about two weeks ago). I have called the "PT Specialist", and trust me, there are not very many around that do this kind of specialized PT. So, I am waiting on a call from her to get started.

I take Klonopin for PN and for spasms but I was told I could add a LITTLE Valium when the spasms were bad in the pelvic area and backside. Not to be gross, but the pain is mostly in the rectum. So, last night I took about a quarter of a tablet of Valium and did it make a difference! I slept like a baby and the spasms were taken from a roar to just a slight ache. So, this tells me now, for sure, that it is NOT the lumbar causing this NOR my Sacrum (the sacral area is just fine on my MRI). It all has to do with a weak pelvic floor.

I know it is tough isolating all of this because the lower back, sacrum, nerves, pelvis all tie in together one way or another.

And, another thing I just read is that IF you have a pelvic floor problem, DO NOT SIT on a donut or a coccyx cushion! I had been doing this a lot and had all kinds of cushions around. I noticed though it made me feel worse. The article I read says that sitting on one of these cushions can actually make the pelvic floor muscles even weaker. However, I do realize that some people need them for surgery and things of that nature. So, I am not using them at all anymore until such time as I can get into PT and see how they are going to handle this and what their recommendations might be.