2 years muscle strain; need opinion about mri

[eco.seller2012]

Hi Everybody,
This is my first post.

I've been struggling with debilitating back pain/limitations for over 2 years now. The diagnosis seems to be that it's a muscle strain/spasm in my mid-lower back, but if that's the case, it's a muscle that cannot seem to heal or unspasm.
I've gone to drs and had xrays and finally mri and they say my spine, discs, and nerves all look fine, and my pain doesn't shoot around or cause numbness, so I agree it doesn't seem like a nerve or disc thing.

I've rested (2 years of lying in bed, because I cannot maintain any normal daily activities or work), done PT, massage, acupuncture, pool therapy, rolfing, consultation with neurosurgery, etc. Nothing has caused any improvement.

My questions are:
Does anybody have any ideas what would cause a back muscle strain to not heal?
Or what else it could be that would present like a back muscle strain but be something else?
Also, I've read research that says MRIs can be used to see sports injury/soft tissue damage and strains, but the radiologist didn't say anything about my soft tissues in his report about the MRI. Does anyone know how to assess soft tissue in an MRI?

I have my images posted online in order to get some feedback about them.

http://detroitoralhistmaps.wordpress.com/2011/12/06/my-mri-images/

Or any other ideas feedback would be welcome as well.

I have an appointment coming up with ortho, but it's not for 2 more months and I don't have very high hopes about it anyway.

thanks everyone!

[Heidi]

Hi
Sorry to hear about your problems.
Muscle strains or spasms usually heal on their own within a couple of weeks so I would be very surprised if this were the case following all the time and rest.
It may be that following an initial injury and an extended rest period that you now have a very weak back and core and muscle imbalances.
What did you do with the PT?
What exercises exactly?

MRI is used to look at soft tissue injuries. If nothing was mentioned in your report it's probably because there was nothing to mention. I can't read MRI's and I don't know if anyone else on here will be able to either so can't help you on that front, sorry.

[kmikes]

I had periods of debilitating back pain. First time (I was not 29) but the doc prescribed some drug and I had the back of a 29 year old. The next time I went to a Chiropractor, and he said take the wallet out of your pocket. The 3rd time I found a great Chiropractor, and ended up with orthodics. No episodes since, along with a variety of back stretching exercises. My wife would not go see im and ended up with spinal fusion, a long miserable recovery period.