Hey Cheryl, yeah I don't think a chiro would be bad thing to try. I've seen countless doctors over the last year and still haven't made much progress, so maybe it's time to try something different.
I've been analyzing the hell out of my recent buttock pain and it does seem to fit a back problem better than a fissure. It just doesn't feel like what I recall of when my fissure was acting up, and the two rectal exams I had done recently didn't hurt at all, which I know would most definitely NOT have been the case with a fissure :)
I think I'm going to pony up the dough for the lumbar MRI, see what the results are, and then see either a chiro or maybe PT depending on what the MRI finds. I've never heard of EMG testing for muscles before -- I wonder if they can do that for other muscle groups too. To be honest I've never put much faith in chiros, but I don't know how much faith I have in doctors anymore now, either, so it can't be any worse...

I think chiros are like MD's--some are better than others. I'm very hesitant to try a new chiro because some of them have some pretty off the wall ideas. Who's to know who is right???????

Yeah I'd agree with that. I've seen a ton of doctors and it scares me a bit that they all have such different opinions on what the problem might be. I don't expect it to an exact science but sometimes the disparity is so wide that I just have to wonder.
So satisfy a crack addict's curiosity here: do chiros really "crack knuckles" all over your body for you? Even before I had any butt or back problems, I'd always wanted to go see one just I've been told they can crack joints that you didn't even know existed.

My chiro uses his "gun" on me. I won't let him crack stuff all over the place.

Awww man that's no fun haha. If I see a chiro and don't get at least a couple of nice back and neck cracks in there I'm gonna be disappointed :)