[Justice]

I was also in an MVA in 1997,and had broken my back,the other injuries are irrelevent,but I went through the same things,except for the MRI's,I can't have MRI's(surgical stainless steel clips in my chest)! But I have avoided surgery at every cost as well.The traction was too painful,all of it was too painful,so now I have Degenerative Disk Desease of the Lumber Spine,and Sciatica,and I chose the pain management with Pain medication for probably the rest of my life.But I think you made the right choice of not taking the pain medicine for yourself,some people can function just fine on it,some can't.But after the accident,I didn't wait long enough before I went back to weight lifting and ruptured 4 disks in the lower lumbar region,that was my stubborness,and stupidity.I am almost 34 myself,so I understand what you're going through.When I don't take my pain meds,it's excrutiating!So I really feel for you,and wish you the best of luck.I heard from a Doctor in Californis that acupuncture works wonders,I've never tried it myself,but you never know! But there are topics here for the health problems and conditions,and you can find something in there,or just message DocJohn,and he can steer you to the right topic,cause I'm fairly hew here as well!Good luck,and I really wish you well with your spinal injury,I know how it feels!