X-ray shows Retrolisthesis at L4 upon L5?

Had an X-ray as my lower back, left leg, left foot and big toe have been killing me and getting worse, hurts all the time and worse when walking, wakes me up in the night.

X-ray result says I have Retrolisthesis at L4 upon L5 and the Dr is recommending I get an MRI for more info.

Is anyone familiar with this? seeing a Physiatrist soon and dread that he may suggest the dreaded steroid injection as I had one in my cervical spine for a herniated disc and had awful side effects, and which actually flared up my left leg and foot for some reason, or it was just a coincidence.

Now I have pain from my neck, left shoulder and all my left side when at one point it was "just" my neck, upper back and left shoulder :(

Trying to think positive but am in constant pain and wonder if I'll ever be 100% again, was so active before accident and now...well..it's very tough.

Thank you for any advice...

Thundercloud your doctors right, you need an MRI, right now that's the gold standard in finding what is going on with your brain and spine and allot of other things in your body! Don't jump the gun so to speak, about him ordering an epidural injection, he may not, definitely needs to find out what is going on first. I will tell you at least here in the states allot of surgeons use the epidural steroid injections as a kind of test or indicator as to verify where the pain your experiencing is actually coming from. I have had several neurosurgeons tell me that, and they would not go ahead with surgery without having had them done first.

I know this type of thing can be life changing, many of us here, have had to quit our jobs, and go on disability because of this exact type of thing! I hope that isn't the case with you, but do know your not alone in this!

I wish you well and hope that you can get some pain relief soon. Keep us informed of your progress.

White Beard

Hi Thundercloud.

We have to "try" PT to keep the insurance companies happy. They will refuse anything expensive until we've tried everything else first. So, after the MRI, it's off to PT, then see the physiatrist again.

Physiatrists are good for lumbar problems, can do injections, but if you get anything in thoracic or neck you need an anesthesiologist working in pain management.

There are several types of injections. I've had good results in the past with epidurals. When those no longer worked I got facet joint injections to test if ablations would work. Sometimes those worked for a long time, but sometimes only a few days. Ablations are about the same, but need to be done by the anesthesiologist. For me, 5/6 of those have worked for a year. I'm getting one re-done, thankfully an option!