Hi Kristen, I am a Physio in practice for 25 years and have made back health my main focus. Arthritis does have an impact on the lower back but there could be other restrictions in the lower back area which are causing abnormal loads to it and therefore producing pain. Poor postural and ergonomic fitness has a huge influence on back pain as does inflexibility. What you need is a good evaluation lasting about 1 1/2 to 2 hours to determine whether the pain is coming from pure joint changes or from the abnormal soft tissue loads put on those joints. My money is on the latter. Trigger points in muscles will produce the same kind of pain that disc and joint changes produce and you have to get them released by a qualified Physio who has a lot of hands on expertise and experience. If your Physio just put you on a table and used modalities,it's time to find a new Physio as they are just treating the symptoms of back pain instead of the root cause. 90% of my clients are significantly better in 1-2 treatment sessions with just addressing the soft tissue and postural control issues and they are nearly 100% compliant with any exercise or movement activities I give them. I will be publishing a website shortly to address these issues: wwwbodyawarebodysmart,com or you can follow me on facebook: Karen Roberts, or e-mail for advice to kr_babsproj@hotmail,com. I hope that helps. Back pain is highly treatable and wholly preventable. Thanks.View Thread