MRIs are cool. They display some great images of the body. Chiropractors appreciate spinal MRI images. Why? The spine is where chiropractors like your Southern New Hampshire chiropractor live day in and day out. New Hampshire Spine and Sport appreciates the MRI image study for what it is: a tool. But MRIs are not always a clinical necessity. 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 Southern New Hampshire patient’s back pain, neck pain, arm pain or leg pain symptoms signal the need for an MRI, New Hampshire Spine and Sport arranges one for such a Southern New Hampshire back pain patient. MRI may enhance your Southern New Hampshire chiropractor’s clinical understanding of the condition oftentimes (but not always!). Pre-treatment and post-MRI studies are intriguing. Did the disc herniation shrink now that the pain left? Southern New Hampshire chiropractic patients will often ask that of New Hampshire Spine and Sport. 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 examine MRI images of low back pain sufferers to check if there is any connection between pain and no pain and the MRI pre and post treatment for back pain. Patients wonder, too. New Hampshire Spine and Sport is well aware that our Southern New Hampshire back pain patients wonder!
In noticing that doctors and patients dealing with back pain like MRIs, some researchers set out to determine the value of MRI in predicting treatment outcomes in patients who had a herniated lumbar disc with sciatica. They speculated whether MRI could help decide whether to do back surgery now or stay the course with conservative care. New Hampshire Spine and Sport and the Southern New Hampshire 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 – signified a satisfactory outcome with either form of care. Another noteworthy 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 them – surgical and conservative. (1) New Hampshire Spine and Sport reads 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 landmark studies either: 50% versus 53% non-surgical vs. surgical for back pain due to spinal stenosis (2) and 69% vs. 61% surgical versus non-surgical for sciatica (3).
New Hampshire Spine and Sport Offers Chiropractic Non-Surgical Care of Disc Herniation
New Hampshire Spine and Sport asks you to make a Southern New Hampshire chiropractic appointment today. Trust New Hampshire Spine and Sport 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 Southern New Hampshire chiropractic appointment today.