If all of the test are negative, many times they classify the pain as soft tissue damage.

I have similar pain, especially if I do too much. I use ice alternating with heat. I nice soak in the bath helps relax those muscles also. In therapy they are putting heat on the lower back before they start any stretches. I would google exercises for the lower back and exercises for strengthening your core muscles. Do them at your own pace and only start with the ones that do not inflame the area causing more pain.

Swimming is one of the best places to exercise. Do some of the stretching exercises will you are in the pool also.

Just some ideas to check out. I hope your pain gets better soon. Keep us up to date on how you are doing.
Hugs-RJ

Thank you RJRelaxing for sharing your thoughts. I'm curious as to what muscle pain you have? That is if you don't mind sharing?

Hi,

I'm not sure we've met, so nice to meet you. I have diseases that make it hard for me to walk or even stand for a very long time, so when I'm home I'm usually sitting/lieing on the couch or lieing on my bed. When I do this to much and haven't been mobile enough, because I sit in my office also, my tailbone, sacrum and lumbar, that area where they all meet hurts incredibly bad. I've broken 2 vertabrae a few up and they usually behave, but that lower area where the 3 meet just aches deep into the bone and it takes a while to stop. Normally I have to go in and get Tordal injections to boost my normal pain meds, increase my muscle relaxers, and increase my anti-inflammatories and then I spend time in the pool doing PT, because that's the only kind of exercise I can do. It usually works itself out in a week or so, I have to stay off the area for as much as possible. It's not fun, even sleeping gets interesting, it has to be on my side with 2 body pillows so I can lean forward toward the mattress, so the pillows hold my body weight taking all weight off the butt/sacrum/low back area.

I'm sorry your having this awful pain, i'm not a crier, but this is one of the things that makes me just lie in bed and cry like a baby. Oh yes I also take a very deep, scalding hot bath, but I use a half inflated do-nut pillow (like if you had hemorrhoids) so I can submerse it, and sit on it in the tub, that helps quite a bit and I do it several times a day.

I hope you find some relief from the pain.

OCP

Hi, I have this also, only on top of your symptoms it hurts to walk and stand for any length of time. After going through all you have I finally had injections in the SI joint as this is the only test that can verify SI Joint dysfunction which is what I have. As I said injecting the SI Joint with lidocaine & cortisone is the only test that can accurately tell if you have this. If you find that you get relief from the injections that is the indicator that you do indeed have SI joint dysfunction.

There really isn't any treatment other than fusion and even then it's only 50/50 & most find that mobility is limited and it causes more pain according to the blogs I've read. I have found really good relief from pt. My therapist massages the area and though it usually hurts more right after within hours the pain is greatly reduced if not gone at least for a couple days. I was going twice a day but had to stop as I'm having my tenth thoracic spinal fusion surgery on Monday. I hope this helps. Google SI Joint dysfunction and you'll find quite a bit of info. I sure hope you find the relief your looking for and need.

Hugs & God Bless
Lisa

From what I know there are not many people trained and qualified to treat SI joint dysfunction.
Someone I know had actually dislocated his sacrum but no one could disgnose him properly for a long time.
If you thinks there is a problem, there probably is.
I d go for a second opinion. Try searching for a neurosurgeon who specializes in SI joint.
Hope you feel better soon!!!

In that case, it wouldn't hurt (except physically/financially) to have a sitting MRI. I'm not sure if it would uncover anything, though.

The basic problem might be hypermobility, perhaps as part of a connective tissue disorder. (Which does not show up on blood tests, except maybe some genetic testing.) Almost anyone with much hypermobility is at high risk of lower back problems. (That is my main reason for DS membership.) It's good that the PT spotted it, but I'm not sure he knows how to treat it. Strengthening is part of it, to reduce excess motion, and one has to be careful with stretching. There are some physical therapists who are experts in treating hypermobile people.

Also, I too have the issue of pain generally worsening during the day. My guess is that taking breaks to lie down, if possible, would help. Also, it's possible that muscles in the hamstring, Iliotibial band, butt, etc., are tight due to protective compensation. A PT should check for that. Careful stretches and massage then would help.

Yes, i have something a lot like this. And in addition, i have pudendal nerve pain, which is a nerve that runs from the sacrum, down the butt, through the entire pelvic floor and up the labia. It really is just lovely, to say the least. What the theory is, is that after my pelvis / s.i. joints / sacrum became unstable from a car accident, my butt and pelvic muscles took up the slack to try to stabilize the pelvis, and once the muscles had tightened up for too long, they spasmed and have impinged on several nerves, including the pudendal nerve.

Anyway, it is very important that you remedy this quickly so that you dont turn out like me (i cant sit almost at all anymore and cant work and my life is pretty much over). What you need to do is make an appointment to see a good osteopath in your area. If you havent heard of osteopaths, they are the doctors who are the D.O.s instead of MDs, and if you get an osteopath who specializes in "osteopathic mainpulative medicine" or "musculoskeletal" issues, he will do a thorough assessment of your skeleton, muscles, and other structures to diagnose what the issues are and work with you on an aggressive plan to get better ASAP. The really great ones do trigger point injections (to release muscle spasms) and muscle energy exercises (to adjust your joints).

Also go to a good pelvic physical therapist. You can find a provider at apta.org and choose "find a PT" and for the specialty it is either pelvic floor or women's health or something close to that. They will usually be able to tell you if your pelvis is rotated or if your sacrum is rotated and give you self corrections to fix it and also certain strengthening exercises to help keep them in alignment. Hope this helps.