Dear Patient, Thank you very much for your question. As you mentioned, your MRI shows mild Prolapsed intervertebral disc L4-L5 which can cause your chronic back pain. The underlying cause for this condition is not masturbation and PIVD has a strong genetic component. Also trauma, poor weight lifting techniques and occupations which needs extended period of time sitting than moving like drivers , office workers can trigger PIVD up on strong genetic predisposition. Masturbation is a harmless, innocent and physiological human sexual response which absolutely does not have any correlation to your lower back pain due to PIVD. There are certain tests like, Straight leg raise (SLR) for diagnosing herniation at L4-L5 and neurological tests for diagnosing level of reflexes, muscle and sensory weakness due to level of disc prolapse. Therefore, I recommend you to consult a Orthopedic surgeon for proper consultation and further treatments. He is the best person to help you. Also do not worry about masturbation. It is absolutely normal and disease free. If you have more questions, please let me know. Good luck! Dr. Dinesh Nuwan Weerasinghe. MD