Chiropractic Relieves Disc Herniation Related Pain Often Without MRI
MRIs are cool. MRIs display impressive pictures of the body. Chiropractors like looking at spinal MRI images. Why? The spine is your Manchester chiropractor’s realm! Manchester Chiropractic & Sports Injuries values 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 news.
The Usefulness of MRI
When a Manchester patient’s back pain, neck pain, arm pain or leg pain symptoms denote the need for an MRI, Manchester Chiropractic & Sports Injuries requests one for such a Manchester back pain patient. MRI may add to your Manchester chiropractor’s clinical understanding of the condition oftentimes (but not always!). Pre-treatment and post-MRI studies are interesting. Did the disc herniation shrink now that the pain left? Manchester chiropractic patients will often ask that of Manchester Chiropractic & Sports Injuries. And researchers will study MRIs for their research studies on just such a question.
The Curiosity of MRI
Researchers are not the only ones who curiously look at MRI images of low back pain sufferers to see 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. Manchester Chiropractic & Sports Injuries knows our Manchester back pain patients wonder!
In noticing that doctors and patients find MRI images a curiosity when there is back pain and leg pain, some researchers planned to determine if MRI is of value in determining how treatment outcomes will be for patients with sciatic leg pain due to a herniated lumbar disc. They speculated whether MRI could help determine whether to do back surgery now or stay the course with conservative care. Manchester Chiropractic & Sports Injuries and the Manchester 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. There was no significant difference in outcomes between the two groups – surgical and conservative. (1) Manchester Chiropractic & Sports Injuries sees similar reports increasingly in the back pain research. Recall the Atlas studies of surgical and non-surgical interventions for back pain and sciatica? There wasn’t much variation in those landmark 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).
Manchester Chiropractic & Sports Injuries Offers Chiropractic Non-Surgical Care of Disc Herniation
Manchester Chiropractic & Sports Injuries invites you to make a Manchester chiropractic appointment today. Trust Manchester Chiropractic & Sports Injuries to provide evidence-based chiropractic care that alleviates your spine pain many times without an MRI. Together, we can create a non-surgical (and even potentially non-MRI!) treatment plan to reduce your back pain.
Schedule your Manchester chiropractic appointment today.
