Chiropractic Relieves Disc Herniation Related Pain Often Without MRI

MRIs are cool. They display some great images of the body. Chiropractors like looking at spinal MRI images. Why? The spine is your Fort Wayne chiropractor’s realm! Cox Chiropractic Medicine Inc appreciates 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 most recent findings.

The Usefulness of MRI

When a Fort Wayne patient’s back pain, neck pain, arm pain or leg pain symptoms indicate the need for an MRI, Cox Chiropractic Medicine Inc requests one for such a Fort Wayne back pain patient. MRI may supplement your Fort Wayne chiropractor’s clinical understanding of the condition oftentimes (but not always!).  Pre-treatment and post-MRI images are interesting. Did the disc herniation reduce now that the pain left? Fort Wayne chiropractic patients will often ask that of Cox Chiropractic Medicine Inc. And researchers will study 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 see if there is any connection between pain and no pain and the MRI pre and post treatment for back pain. Patients wonder, too. Cox Chiropractic Medicine Inc is well aware that our Fort Wayne back pain patients wonder!

Knowing 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 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. Cox Chiropractic Medicine Inc and the Fort Wayne 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 form of care. Another interesting 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) Cox Chiropractic Medicine Inc reads similar reports increasingly in the back pain research.  Recall the Atlas studies of surgical and non-surgical interventions for back pain and sciatica? There was not much variation 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).

Cox Chiropractic Medicine Inc Offers Chiropractic Non-Surgical Care of Disc Herniation

Cox Chiropractic Medicine Inc asks you to make a Fort Wayne chiropractic appointment today. Trust Cox Chiropractic Medicine Inc to provide evidence-based chiropractic care that alleviates your spine pain many times without an MRI. Together, we can set a non-surgical (and even potentially non-MRI!) treatment plan to alleviate your back pain.

Schedule your Fort Wayne chiropractic appointment today.