Hi Rrae,

Well, SURE you've got muscle spasms back there considering all that's going on giving you pain. DUH! (directed at your doctors - not you!)

Most, if not all, chronic pain patients suffer from some kind of muscle spasms, and many take muscle relaxers for them as part of their regular medication regime. You might discuss with your doctor a longer acting relaxer. I've got a spasm in my neck/shoulder that's been there pretty much permanently for the past six months or so from pain caused by stenosis in c5-c7. I don't tolerate muscle relaxers well, so we keep working on it with myofascial trigger point techniques, thera cane, and TENS just to stay on top of it.

I've got lumbar pain too, and though it's also caused by more DDD at l5-s1, it generally manifests as muscle fatigue and eventually spasm (and a dagger in the spine) if I don't get/take the pressure off of it (can't sit/stand for too long without support). Speaking of which....

I don't know what a CAT scan might/not reveal that you don't already seem to know(?) I have heard anecdotal evidence that spinal decompression/inversion therapy has helped some people with lumbar pain, but as to whether it would help any particular individual... ???

Wish I had more than the old cliché, "I feel your pain."

Best wishes, & do what you gotta do.

Doc