Question
I recently hurt myself at work. In the past I have had quite a few MRI's due to pain and auto accidents, falls etc. I had been out of work for unrelated reasons and when I did get a job 2 years ago after my medical insurance kicked in I took all of my Mri's and X rays to a neuro surgen for a reading. It was not anyone who knew me and I just picked someone who was close to my home. At that time I got the same answer about my tests he examined as before. There is nothing he could do and all of my pain is soft tissue  damage. So I was wondering if it was all in my head and he said no I do have pain but there is no surgery for it I would just have to live with it and take Ibuprophen for the pain and limit myself  when I do have pain.
Now recently the work I have been doing has caused me a lot of pain and this recent bout of out of work time. I asee a chiropractor but I would have to see hime every week and or every month for the rest of my life. I can not believe that is how I have to live for the rest of my life. I am spending a fortune going to the chiropractor.
Anyway The reading of the latest MRI was so contradictory to itself it makes me wonder if they are friends of the people I work for because they don't want to be responsible for me getting hurt. It sounds like they are trying to blame it on a previous injury.
Findings:
The conus and cauda equina are unremarkable. Teh lumbar vertebral bodies are normal in height and alignment. No bone contusion or fracture is identified. Specific findings are presented by level in the following conclusion.
1) L1-2 There is no disc bulge, herniation or other cause of significant central or neural forminal stenosis.
2) L2-3 There is a mild disc desiccation and circumferential bulging. The bulging discflattens the ventral aspect of the thecal sac but does not result in any significant generalized stenosis or neural impingement.  The neural formina are widely patent.
3) L3-4: The intervertebral disc is minamally desiccated.  There is no bulge, herniation or other cause of significant central or neural forminal stenosis.
4) l4-5: The intervertebral disc is desiccated, slightly thinned and bulges circumferentially. There are minimal degenerative endplate signal intensity changes. There is mild facet and ligamentous hypertrophy. Mild bilateral neural formal and lateral recess stenosis results. There is no significant generalized stenosis of the central canal.
5) L5-S1 The intervertebral disc is disiccated, thinned ,bulges circumferentially and is accompanied by minimal degenerative endplate signal intensity changes and osteophytosis. There is a superimposed broadbased but small protrusion of the disc posteriorly. There is moderate hypertrophy of the facets bilaterally. The protruding disc barely deforms the ventrl aspect of the thecal sac and leads to no significant stenosis of the central canal. There is no mass effect upon the S nerve roots. The combination of disc bulging and facet arthrosis leads to mild bilateral neural forminal stenosis without overt nerve compression.

Now with all this double talk I got out of this reading, they felt there is no problem!
I had pain to the point of crying and I have A HIGH tolerance of pain. I wasn't able to sit or stand or even walk. I ended up in bed for 7 days. The pain radiated down my legs and there was numbing of my left foot and severe pain around my hips to my groin area. I was unable to go to have a BM or urinate for 5 days due to the pinching of the nerves that they do not seem to feel are affected.
I have been dealing with back issues for 20. The chiropractic business has made a bundle on me. But they are the only ones who seem to able to help . However it is only Temporary! The pain is usually back in a day or two.

Answer
Gail,
I am a lawyer, not a doctor. I can tell you the radiology report is similar to many I have seen, is not doubletalk and does not indicate you have no problems, only that your problems are probably soft tissue , not disc related. I suggest you ask your chiropractor to interpret the mri report for you.
Good luck,
Richard Sindell