Since Feb I've been experiencing really bad sharp sharp pains in my lumbar/tailbone and on the inside of my thigh. The areas are very sensitive and when touched it seems like it has a tingle to it with a burning dull pain. Sometimes it feels like something is being squashed in there or im sitting on gravel. It hurts the most when I am sitting down. Usually it seems as if i have ants in my pants that i am always standing up and cant seem to relax because of the pain that I'm going through. My child hood had consisted of many sports including snowboarding/hockey and baseball. When i was 18 i had a pretty bad fall about 5 - 6 feet onto my back snowboarding. It had left quite a big looking goose egg which i had xrays but everything turned out alright "just a lot of swelling". The only thing i can think that may have triggered this was weightlifting. At the time i had been doing plenty of bench pressing which may have screwed something up even more that it was. Now being 21 i am told i have a Degeneration of a disc in my lumbar spine i think its in the region of L3/S1? I am very concerned being so young and knowing that the pain is not going to just stop on its own... what do you think of my mri photos on a scale of 1 - 10 how bad does it look?

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I'm not qualified to read your MRI, but I do suffer from degenerated discs. I am 37 and have had issues on and off with my back going out since highschool and I have had severe pain for the last two years. I have two discs that are totally dried up along with a few odds and ends like a annular tear and a few bulges. I have been given very good guidance from my physical therapist.

Take it easy on your back, and always use your head as to what you lift and move. The key is to keep flexibility in your leg and back muscles and do pilates type stretches to keep your core strong and flexible. I have been struggling severe pain and having to use meds to cope, if you keep on top of things you should be able to advoid this in the future.

Of course you have to make sure that you dont agravate your back if you are dealing with pain and swelling, but this is what you have to ultimatly work towards. Let me know how things go with you and I hope the best.