Chiropractic Relieves Disc Herniation Related Pain Often Without MRI
MRIs are cool. They show some amazing images of the body. Chiropractors like looking at spinal MRI images. Why? The spine is where chiropractors like your McHenry chiropractor live day in and day out. OrthoIllinois Chiropractic values the MRI image study for what it is: a a piece of the diagnostic puzzle. 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 most recent news.
The Usefulness of MRI
When a McHenry patient’s back pain, neck pain, arm pain or leg pain symptoms indicate the need for an MRI, OrthoIllinois Chiropractic arranges one for such a McHenry back pain patient. MRI may enhance your McHenry chiropractor’s clinical knowledge of the condition oftentimes (but not always!). Pre-treatment and post-MRI studies are interesting. Did the disc herniation shrink now that the pain is gone? McHenry chiropractic patients will often ask that of OrthoIllinois Chiropractic. And researchers will study MRIs for their research studies on just such a query.
The Curiosity of MRI
Researchers are not 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 pre and post treatment for back pain. Patients wonder, too. OrthoIllinois Chiropractic knows our McHenry back pain patients wonder!
Knowing that doctors and patients dealing with back pain like MRIs, a group of researchers set out to determine the value of MRI in predicting treatment outcomes in patients with sciatic leg pain due to a herniated lumbar disc. They questioned if MRI could help determine whether to do back surgery now or stay the course with conservative care. OrthoIllinois Chiropractic and the McHenry chiropractic low back pain patients we care for 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 – indicated a satisfactory outcome with either form of care. Another interesting 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) OrthoIllinois Chiropractic 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 wasn’t much variation in those classic studies either: 50% versus 53% non-surgical vs. surgical for back pain due to spinal stenosis (2) and 69% vs. 61% surgical vs. non-surgical for sciatica (3).
OrthoIllinois Chiropractic Offers Chiropractic Non-Surgical Care of Disc Herniation
OrthoIllinois Chiropractic invites you to make a McHenry chiropractic appointment today. Trust OrthoIllinois Chiropractic 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 lessen your back pain.
Schedule your McHenry chiropractic appointment now.
