Chiropractic Reduces Disc Herniation Related Pain Often Without MRI
MRIs are fascinating. MRIs display impressive pictures of the body. Chiropractors appreciate spinal MRI images. Why? The spine is where chiropractors like your Carrolltown chiropractor live day in and day out. Gormish Chiropractic & Rehabilitation appreciates the MRI image study for what it is: a tool. But MRIs are not always a clinical necessity. Can MRI help decide whether a surgical or non-surgical approach is appropriate for back pain relief? Read on for the latest findings.
The Usefulness of MRI
When a Carrolltown patient’s back pain, neck pain, arm pain or leg pain symptoms signal the need for an MRI, Gormish Chiropractic & Rehabilitation orders one for such a Carrolltown back pain patient. MRI may enhance your Carrolltown chiropractor’s clinical understanding of the condition oftentimes (but not always!). Pre-treatment and post-MRI studies are interesting. Did the disc herniation reduce now that the pain disappeared? Carrolltown chiropractic patients will often ask that of Gormish Chiropractic & Rehabilitation. And researchers will study MRIs for their research studies on just such a question.
The Curiosity of MRI
Researchers aren’t the only ones who curiously examine MRI images of low back pain sufferers to see if there is any connection between pain and no pain and the MRI pre and post treatment for back pain. Patients wonder, too. Gormish Chiropractic & Rehabilitation knows our Carrolltown back pain patients wonder!
Knowing that doctors and patients find MRI images a curiosity when there is back pain and leg pain, a group of researchers planned to determine the value of MRI in predicting treatment outcomes in patients with sciatic leg pain due to a herniated lumbar disc. They speculated whether MRI could help decide whether to do back surgery now or stay the course with conservative care. Gormish Chiropractic & Rehabilitation and the Carrolltown chiropractic low back pain patients we treat would love such a simple indicator! 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 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) Gormish Chiropractic & Rehabilitation sees similar reports more and more 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 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).
Gormish Chiropractic & Rehabilitation Offers Chiropractic Non-Surgical Care of Disc Herniation
Gormish Chiropractic & Rehabilitation invites you to make a Carrolltown chiropractic appointment today. Trust Gormish Chiropractic & Rehabilitation 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 Carrolltown chiropractic appointment now.
