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 Juneau chiropractor live day in and day out. Aurora Chiropractic Center appreciates 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 a surgical or non-surgical approach is appropriate for back pain relief? Read on for the latest news.
The Usefulness of MRI
When a Juneau patient’s back pain, neck pain, arm pain or leg pain symptoms denote the demand for an MRI, Aurora Chiropractic Center arranges one for such a Juneau back pain patient. MRI may supplement your Juneau chiropractor’s clinical knowledge of the condition oftentimes (but not always!). Pre-treatment and post-MRI images are intriguing. Did the disc herniation reduce now that the pain disappeared? Juneau chiropractic patients will often ask that of Aurora Chiropractic Center. And researchers will consider 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 connection between pain and no pain and the MRI at the beginning and end of treatment for back pain. Patients wonder, too. Aurora Chiropractic Center is well aware that our Juneau 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 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. Aurora Chiropractic Center and the Juneau 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 type 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 the two groups – surgical and conservative. (1) Aurora Chiropractic Center 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 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).
Aurora Chiropractic Center Offers Chiropractic Non-Surgical Care of Disc Herniation
Aurora Chiropractic Center asks you to make a Juneau chiropractic appointment today. Trust Aurora Chiropractic Center 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 Juneau chiropractic appointment today.
