Chiropractic Reduces Disc Herniation Related Pain Often Without MRI
MRIs are fascinating. MRIs display pretty pictures of the body. Chiropractors appreciate spinal MRI images. Why? The spine is your Minster chiropractor’s realm! Minster Chiropractic Center values the MRI image study for what it is: a a piece of the diagnostic puzzle. 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 latest findings.
The Usefulness of MRI
When a Minster patient’s back pain, neck pain, arm pain or leg pain symptoms denote the demand for an MRI, Minster Chiropractic Center orders one for such a Minster back pain patient. MRI may supplement your Minster chiropractor’s clinical understanding of the condition oftentimes (but not always!). Pre-treatment and post-MRI images are intriguing. Did the disc herniation reduce now that the pain is gone? Minster chiropractic patients will often ask that of Minster Chiropractic Center. And researchers will study MRIs for their research studies on just such a query.
The Curiosity of MRI
Researchers aren’t the only ones who curiously study MRI images of low back pain sufferers to see if there is any correlation between pain and no pain and the MRI pre and post treatment for back pain. Patients wonder, too. Minster Chiropractic Center knows our Minster back pain patients wonder!
In noticing 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. Minster Chiropractic Center and the Minster 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 – indicated a satisfactory outcome with either type of care. Another noteworthy 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) Minster Chiropractic Center 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 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 versus non-surgical for sciatica (3).
Minster Chiropractic Center Offers Chiropractic Non-Surgical Care of Disc Herniation
Minster Chiropractic Center invites you to make a Minster chiropractic appointment today. Trust Minster 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 reduce your back pain.
Schedule your Minster chiropractic appointment now.
