Pain at 7! That pretty serious. Enough joking around about out this.
What I think you'll truely want is an MRI, since it will show tissue damage (like to disks and pads) as well as bone. MRI. Your Doctor should realize this - I hope you have insurance. Have the doctors look at it, and also maybe take it to an experienced massage/bodywork person who does cranial-sacrial therapy and feels qualified to look at an MRI. You got one of those there, right? Where I live you can't swing a cat without hitting one.
I know that you know that I don't know what I'm talking about, but I do have the saco-illiac joint damage and it was a long time to diagnose it, and when it was, there was little to do about it except PT anyway. But it was a relief to know that it wasn't a slipped or torn disk which would prevent the exercise needed to get better. The way I think now, in my decrepitude, is that I don't want to do anything that could make things worse than they are. It is too much to hope that I'll get better, I only hope to maintain.