[JonnyBackPain]

I have had 3 years of horrible lower back pain and I am trying to get some advice as to which doctor or direction to go next. I have seen 6 different PTs, 5 difference chiropractors, 2 sports medicine experts, an orthopedic surgeon and the list goes on. I am in my mid 20's now.

THE BACK PAIN
My pain is in my lower right side of my back. When it is at its worst it will go down to the top of my buttock and around the side of my right hip. It never deviates or goes higher then maybe 6 inches above my pelvis. 5 x-rays showed nothing and out of 2 MRIs the first one showed nothing and the last one showed "mild inflammation in a lumber facet joint". I received 2 injections of steroids into the lumbar facet joints, but that did not help much. Laying down with a flat back always feels the best.

PAIN: The pain in my lower back is at its highest degree when I do not sleep straight the night before, I bend over and lift with my back or I sit in a chair for long periods of time. The back seemed to be flared up much more often when I was doing Yoga and stretching daily.

THE NECK PAIN
The other side of the pain: I also have severe pain in my neck. I get a very stiff neck and I have shooting nerve pain down my arms. This pain has recently gotten much worse and is worse when standing or sitting for long periods of time. It often feels the best when I am laying down. This was always just a very slight pain and I didn't think much of it, butIt has gotten very painful over the last 4 months. I had a chiropractor work on it, but that only allowed for more flexibility and did not help the pain.

PAIN: My neck pain is at its worst when it tightens up to a point where I can barely turn it. Wearing a tie makes it very tight and painful as well. I don’t know what the large tendons reaching from your head and going down the shoulders are called but that is where a lot of the tight pain seems to be because my wife rubs them and I can really feel it. Laying down with a supporting pillow seems to be the only thing that makes the pain go away.


THE INJURY
The injury or starting point of this pain was when I was playing golf nearly 3 years ago. I have not played golf since that day and swinging a golf club is very painful, especially at the point where I swing through the ball and thrust my body upwards/outwards while extending my right leg. I can feel this motion especially around the side of my right hip and where my butt and back connect (likely the facet joint as well). Swinging a golf club does not hurt my neck, however.


Things that didn't work: Chiropractor, steroid injections into facet joint, months and months of stretching/yoga, dry needling and any other typical PT or chiropractor stuff. The orthopedic surgeon refused to work on my back because he said that it looked like a very healthy back. Quoting him saying, “This is one of the best MRIs I will see in the next 3 months”.

Does anyone have a guess at what this might be? I am mostly looking for where someone thinks I should go next? What kind of doctor? Is there a possible connection between the neck and lower back pain?

Thank you for taking the time to read this.
-Joe