Standard supine (laying on your back) lumbar MRI imaging can sometimes reveal a “tethered cord” where you have either a low conus (end of the cord which should be around L1) and/or attached filum, a fatty or thick filum- which does not mean it is causing issues btw. However, some of us have obtained lumbar MRI in prone position, laying on the stomach vs back, and this can sometimes show a “taut filum”. All nerve roots *should settle downward with gravity, but a remarkable number of us who have obtained clear prone images have evidence of this abnormality. I think I linked this is a previous comment above. It can be difficult to get clear imaging based on respiration movement. But I’ve created a protocol that a few people used which showed this anomaly. It feels like a clue, but I’m not sure what. Again, this will not show up on a lumbar MRI laying on your back- gravity will mask it.
My illness crept up on me slowly- no post viral onset however I do have abnormal CMV titers indicating chronic acute infection going back to at least 2007. Prior to that I was the picture of health.
As for the pronounced scar-like line (shown in my image in the original post, there is information talking about a sacral hypo/hyperpigmentation of the skin, but I can’t find out exactly what they are referring to. I do suspect that even these clear “lines” might indicate something. But I also think you can have a tethered cord that is asymptomatic.
I am waiting on several patients to report on their prone lumbar MRI’s and will report back on these findings and possibly share the protocol I developed. If nothing else I think it is helpful just to know. With that said, you can still have a tethered cord with normal prone imaging. Which is why such emphasis is placed on the symptoms driving diagnosis and intervention.