Hello Community,

In January 2011 my back "went out" for the 3rd consecutive year - prior to which I had injections and PT and was painfree for almost a year. Around the same time I started having severe hip pain (upper/iliac crest, thru thigh) pain while sleeping, waking me up every 2-3 hours in pain. Presuming it was related to the back (3 herniated discs, scoliosis, arthrtis) I had the recommended microdiscectomy (L4-L5) July 2011.

The surgery was successful in that I've had some improvement in the nerves through my legs however, the sleep disturbing hip pain remains. 4 most of PT, injections, physitrist care have not reaped any improvement. I underwent a second MRI of my hip and the results indicated that there is an "edema and enhancement in the superior endplate of L5 and inferior endplate of L4." I sent the radiologist my 1 month post-op lumbar MRI for comparison however, that lumbar MRI doesn't mention anything about an edema...aside from some tenderness, etc, in my back, I've considered that just the cost of surgery...but this new finding has me a bit concerned as I don't *think* I should have a new edema of that area...thanks in advance for your input.