| Re: Lumbar MRI
Hemangiomas within the vertebrae are benign vascular tumors. They generally don't cause pain as Teteri66 mentioned, but they can depending on their location or size. There is also evidence that increased loading on the spine, like moving from a desk job to being a grocery stocker for instance, sometimes causes stable hemangioma to become painful. They are a pretty common finding occurring in between 10-20% of the population. They occasionally can grow larger over time.
I don't know if the hemangioma is causing your problems or not. Clearly, the radiologist didn't think so, giving you a "normal" MRI, but painful hemangiomas are often underdiagnosed because Drs aren't looking at them as a source of pain. Where does your pain occur? Is it in the area that would be affected by the L5 or S1 nerve roots being compressed? If so, my bets on the hemangioma. If not, perhaps there is something going on in a different area of your spine that wasn't imaged.
I would hope you are seeing a spine specialist, fellowship trained, ortho or neuro surgeon that has a spine-only practice. Such a Dr would be able to help you match your current symptoms with the diagnostics performed so far, and suggest further diagnostics if necessary.
Good luck and let us know how it goes...
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