please help me understand my recent mri all i know is i have alot of pain and im not very good at explaining the pain to the dr thank you for your time. coronal imaging demonstrates a left sided curvature of lumbar spine some straightening of normal lumbar lordosis multilevel degenerative disc disease mild retrolisthesis of of L5 in relation to S1 there are scattered nerve sheath cysts noted L3-4 space demonstrates a diffuse asymmetric bulge with focality involving the right articular recess region measuring 2-3 mm with facet arthropathy and hypertrophy of ligamentum flavum mild central spinal canal stenosis with some narrowing of right articular recess L4-5 demonstrates a diffuse bulge measuring 3-4 mm with facet artropathy and hypertrophy of ligamentum flavum with moderate narrowing of the neural foramina blialaterally L5-S1 a diffuse asymmetric bulge with focality involving the left articular recess and left neural foramen measuring up to 4-5 mm the appears to be contact of the left S1 nerve root and recomend clinical correlation there is also facet arthropathy and hypertrophy of the ligamentum flavum there is associated narrowing of the left articular recess with mld to moderate narrowing of the right neural foramen and moderate narrowing of the left neural foramen L5-S1 disc space demostrates a diffuse asymmetric bulge with apparent contact and some displacement of the left S1 nerve root

Google: talk doctor pain for many articles on how to describe/explain your pain to your doctor in ways that will help you help him help you.

Doc

coronal imaging demonstrates a left sided curvature of lumbar spine some straightening of normal lumbar lordosis multilevel degenerative disc disease
mild degenerative change--your not a spring chicken

mild retrolisthesis of of L5 in relation to S1

L5 has slid backwards a little---consitent with disc disease, but nota problem in itself

there are scattered nerve sheath cysts noted

Not a problem unless they are compressing something, which apparently yours are not--again not a spring chicken


L3-4 space demonstrates a diffuse asymmetric bulge with focality involving the right articular recess region measuring 2-3 mm with facet arthropathy and hypertrophy of ligamentum flavum mild central spinal canal stenosis with some narrowing of right articular recess

Disc sliding 2-3mm with some spinal canal narrrowing (may or may not cause a problem--the cord is pretty much only nerve roots there, so there is (relatively) alot of space there. Narrowing of the right articular recess---could compress a nerve, although no distict compression was noted

L4-5 demonstrates a diffuse bulge measuring 3-4 mm with facet artropathy and hypertrophy of ligamentum flavum with moderate narrowing of the neural foramina blialaterally L5-S1 a diffuse asymmetric bulge with focality involving the left articular recess and left neural foramen measuring up to 4-5 mm the appears to be contact of the left S1 nerve root

Disc is pushing into the left S1 nerve root-- may cause pain in the SI nerve distribution (sciatica)
and recomend clinical correlation there is also facet arthropathy and hypertrophy of the ligamentum flavum there is associated narrowing of the left articular recess with mld to moderate narrowing of the right neural foramen and moderate narrowing of the left neural foramen L5-S1 disc space demostrates a diffuse asymmetric bulge with apparent contact and some displacement of the left S1 nerve root

[I]Same thing on the right S1 root


I hope this helps

thanks for the input