@mrea What you have to realize is doctors look for pain patterns. Stabbing pain in front of hip = hip arthritis, if this other pain, then sciatica, etc. However, if you have an atypical presentation then you won't get diagnosed properly. Also, Dr. Kuttner mentions this in the "life after pain" book - we all have abnormalities in our spines, other parts as we age. Someone else might have worse spinal discs (or other body parts) but no pain, someone with seemingly good discs has more pain. You might not show anything on images, but something is amiss. Pain can really not generally be diagnosed from imaging - perhaps with the exception of extreme bulging of discs - then it's pretty obvious what the source is. Otherwise, quite honestly, they are guessing. If you've noticed, on letters it often says the word "impressions". They are stating their expert opinion. It should be strongly considered but not necessarily chiseled in stone, either (also things change in our bodies with time).
Most of us with chronic pain do have some degree of pain sensitization, too (hence the "life after pain" programs to minimize pain sensitization).
Ponder the nature of your pain - is it nerves or is it muscle pain. That was not described in detail. Nerve pain: healthy fats + some supplements like turmeric, perhaps other vitamins. There is actually a protocol for neuropathy pain called "the protocol works" and there is a new one called "the protocol 525". There is a facebook group and with some hunting around you can find the protocols. He uses ridiculously high levels of fats (hemp seed oil) amongst other things and tends to say if you don't do this exact thing it won't work. I don't believe that and I came up with my own protocol for supplements based on research I did that uses lower levels of vitamins, minerals, healthy fats and supplements like turmeric and flavinoids and higher vitamin C that seem to help me. Be careful, because some things, like some of the B vitamins, if taken at too high a dose can actually cause neuropathy. If you have the Muscle pain - get the muscles to unlock/relax (i.e. loosen "trigger points"' but often microcirulation issues are present; Perhaps see Dr. Fors' book "why we hurt and how we heal"). Either way you might be able to make a lot of headway with the right stretching/exercise/self-massage for trigger points program as well as diet (and supplements).