Hoping this will be helpful to all of you (recognizing not everybody had/has my problem). I had lower back, hip, and leg pain for weeks, and after an MRI, surgeons and pain specialists counseled me to 1) fix my lumbar spine and 2) take regular pain shots. Meantime, I should do physical therapy (presumably to see whether my problem was caused by something they didn't see). IT WAS! Rejecting the shots at first, I asked my primary care physician for her thoughts, and she advised considering SACROILITIS -- inflammation of one or both of your sacroiliac joints — situated where your lower spine and pelvis connect.

She said Sacroilitis is usually overlooked by spine specialists, partly because it's very difficult to diagnose. It also doesn't bring in a lot of revenue, because the diagnosis is simple: Injection of an anti-inflammatory medication in the suspected sacroiliac joint. If Sacroilitis is the cause of the pain, anti-inflammatories are the answer -- the diagnosis confirmation is the cure. Worked for me. Turned out my inflammation was in only one of my sacroiliac joints, so two injections directly into that joint fixed my problem. It's been almost three years since the pain disappeared.

Raise that possibility with your spine specialist or with another one giving you a second opinion. For more information, check out this web page --
http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/sacroiliitis/home/ovc-20166357.
Martin