[Maria]

Aimee,
You stated you didn't have a proper exam because you were in way too much pain~ my PM didn't want to fully neuro exam me today either as he said he didn't want to flare me back up with spasms so he did a partial exam to check out flexion (bending forward) and extension (bending backwards) plus great toe strength (L5 involvement).

Anyway, depending on what your doctor would exam and his findings, that gives him good insight into what level(s) may be involved. Waiting for an MRI so as to either not flare you up worse if in an acute stage would make sense however if there is a severe neurological deficit/finding that could be overlooked by not doing a full exam.

I'm thinking with your previous findings and your current subjective complaint your doctor is making a call based on this as to what is going on ~ then wait for the MRI to give a more definitive diagnosis.

I think if you called back and asked what level he thought was involved you'd get an answer because likely he made notation (documentation) of his thoughts/findings and at what level he thought might be suspect (pending confirmation re MRI).

Tho it does sound like on whatever he checked out on you he was able to make somewhat of a diagnosis. Such as absent ankle reflexes? Or patella tendon reflexes? Or which reflexes were absent if I might ask?