Chiropractic Relieves Disc Herniation Related Pain Often Without MRI
MRIs are cool. They display some great images of the body. Chiropractors appreciate spinal MRI images. Why? The spine is where chiropractors like your Baton Rouge chiropractor live day in and day out. Medical Spine and Sports Injury and Rehab Centers values the MRI image study for what it is: a a piece of the diagnostic puzzle. But MRIs are not always a clinical necessity. Can MRI help determine whether a surgical or non-surgical approach is appropriate for back pain relief? Read on for the most recent findings.
The Usefulness of MRI
When a Baton Rouge patient’s back pain, neck pain, arm pain or leg pain symptoms denote the demand for an MRI, Medical Spine and Sports Injury and Rehab Centers arranges one for such a Baton Rouge back pain patient. MRI may enhance your Baton Rouge chiropractor’s clinical knowledge of the condition oftentimes (but not always!). Pre-treatment and post-MRI images are intriguing. Did the disc herniation shrink now that the pain left? Baton Rouge chiropractic patients will often ask that of Medical Spine and Sports Injury and Rehab Centers. And researchers will consider MRIs for their research studies on just such a question.
The Curiosity of MRI
Researchers aren’t the only ones who curiously look at MRI images of low back pain sufferers to ascertain if there is any correlation between pain and no pain and the MRI at the beginning and end of treatment for back pain. Patients wonder, too. Medical Spine and Sports Injury and Rehab Centers knows our Baton Rouge back pain patients wonder!
Knowing that doctors and patients find MRI images a curiosity when there is back pain and leg pain, a group of researchers planned to determine if MRI is of value in determining how treatment outcomes will be for patients who had a herniated lumbar disc with sciatica. They questioned if MRI could help decide whether to do back surgery now or stay the course with conservative care. Medical Spine and Sports Injury and Rehab Centers and the Baton Rouge chiropractic low back pain patients we care for would love such a simple indicator! Study participants were randomly sent to surgical care or a course of prolonged conservative care. Two findings – a disc extrusion and nerve root compression on MRI in patients with less severe leg pain – suggested a satisfactory outcome with either form of care. Another noteworthy finding: the size of the disc herniation at the beginning of caredid not affect the outcome. The two groups revealed significant difference in outcomes between them – surgical and conservative. (1) Medical Spine and Sports Injury and Rehab Centers reads similar reports more and more in the back pain research. Recall the Atlas studies of surgical and non-surgical interventions for back pain and sciatica? There was not much difference in those classic studies either: 50% vs. 53% non-surgical versus surgical for back pain due to spinal stenosis (2) and 69% versus 61% surgical versus non-surgical for sciatica (3).
Medical Spine and Sports Injury and Rehab Centers Offers Chiropractic Non-Surgical Care of Disc Herniation
Medical Spine and Sports Injury and Rehab Centers invites you to make a Baton Rouge chiropractic appointment today. Trust Medical Spine and Sports Injury and Rehab Centers to provide evidence-based chiropractic care that relieves your spine pain many times without an MRI. Together, we can create a non-surgical (and even potentially non-MRI!) treatment plan to alleviate your back pain.
Schedule your Baton Rouge chiropractic appointment now.
