Chiropractic Relieves Disc Herniation Related Pain Often Without MRI
MRIs are cool. They show some great images of the body. Chiropractors appreciate spinal MRI images. Why? The spine is where chiropractors like your Fort Wayne chiropractor live day in and day out. Cox Chiropractic Medicine Inc appreciates the MRI image study for what it is: a tool. But MRIs are not always clinically necessary. Can MRI help decide whether to use non-surgical care or surgical care for back pain relief? Read on for the latest findings.
The Usefulness of MRI
When a Fort Wayne patient’s back pain, neck pain, arm pain or leg pain symptoms denote the demand for an MRI, Cox Chiropractic Medicine Inc arranges one for such a Fort Wayne back pain patient. MRI may enhance your Fort Wayne chiropractor’s clinical knowledge of the condition oftentimes (but not always!). Pre-treatment and post-MRI studies are interesting. Did the disc herniation reduce now that the pain left? Fort Wayne chiropractic patients will often ask that of Cox Chiropractic Medicine Inc. And researchers will study MRIs for their research studies on just such a question.
The Curiosity of MRI
Researchers aren’t the only ones who curiously survey MRI images of low back pain sufferers to check 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. Cox Chiropractic Medicine Inc knows our Fort Wayne back pain patients wonder!
Knowing that doctors and patients dealing with back pain like MRIs, some researchers planned to determine the value of MRI in predicting treatment outcomes in patients who had a herniated lumbar disc with sciatica. They questioned if MRI could help determine whether to do back surgery now or stay the course with conservative care. Cox Chiropractic Medicine Inc and the Fort Wayne chiropractic low back pain patients we treat would love such a simple guide! 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 type of care. Another interesting finding: the size of the disc herniation at the beginning of care didn’t affect the outcome. The two groups revealed significant difference in outcomes between them – surgical and conservative. (1) Cox Chiropractic Medicine Inc sees similar reports increasingly in the back pain research. Remember 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% vs. 61% surgical vs. non-surgical for sciatica (3).
Cox Chiropractic Medicine Inc Offers Chiropractic Non-Surgical Care of Disc Herniation
Cox Chiropractic Medicine Inc encourages you to make a Fort Wayne chiropractic appointment today. Trust Cox Chiropractic Medicine Inc to provide evidence-based chiropractic care that relieves your spine pain many times without an MRI. Together, we can set a non-surgical (and even potentially non-MRI!) treatment plan to reduce your back pain.
Schedule your Fort Wayne chiropractic appointment now.
