I'm pretty sure you have a herniated disc. An x-ray won't show anything. You have to tell the dr you want an MRI if he won't do it see someone else. The most important thing is to reduce the swelling and muscle tension so that the disc has a chance to heal and reabsorb into its space. The key is to do this right away for the best chance of recovery. The best thing to do is get cortisone shots in your spine and take muscle relaxers. Then start doing physical therapy as soon as possible. I have a shit load of herniated discs. A lot of them could have been fixed if I had seen a better dr. Most of them just do an x-ray which shows nothing and tell you to just rest and it will heal on its own, if this happens see another dr. I wish I had this knowledge years ago when they first happened. If you don't do it right away your chances of them healing correct are drastically reduced. I can still lift fairly heavy but I have to be very careful and avoid certain things. A message will definitely help by relaxing muscles and increasing bloodflow to the area. Another thing that my help is spinal decompression but it is still controversial. It is definitely worth looking into. You want the disc to reabsorb into place as fast as possible. Good luck bro
