After the struggle to get through the MRI I got the results today. Apparently I have a bone abnormality in one of my vertebra since it is block shaped. That combined with the osteo-arthritis appears to explain the back difficulties.

As the doctor told me "This could be normal for your body. Don't worry." before setting up an appointment with a spinal specialist. Considering the fact that my father had scoliosis I wonder if this came down the old genetic pipeline from him. If so it's kind of sad that my memories of him are alcoholism, suicide and a bad back.