Chiropractic Relieves Disc Herniation Related Pain Often Without MRI

MRIs are cool. They display some amazing images of the body. Chiropractors like looking at spinal MRI images. Why? The spine is where chiropractors like your Pensacola chiropractor live day in and day out. Pensacola Spinal Rehab Center values the MRI image study for what it is: a tool. But MRIs are not always a clinical necessity. Can MRI help determine whether to use non-surgical care or surgical care for back pain relief? Read on for the latest news.

The Usefulness of MRI

When a Pensacola patient’s back pain, neck pain, arm pain or leg pain symptoms signal the demand for an MRI, Pensacola Spinal Rehab Center orders one for such a Pensacola back pain patient. MRI may supplement your Pensacola chiropractor’s clinical perception of the condition oftentimes (but not always!).  Pre-treatment and post-MRI images are intriguing. Did the disc herniation shrink now that the pain left? Pensacola chiropractic patients will often ask that of Pensacola Spinal Rehab Center. 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 study MRI images of low back pain sufferers to see if there is any correlation between pain and no pain and the MRI at the beginning and end of treatment for back pain. Patients wonder, too. Pensacola Spinal Rehab Center knows our Pensacola back pain patients wonder!

Knowing 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 with sciatic leg pain due to a herniated lumbar disc. They speculated whether MRI could help determine whether to do back surgery now or stay the course with conservative care. Pensacola Spinal Rehab Center and the Pensacola 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 - signified a satisfactory outcome with either type 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) Pensacola Spinal Rehab Center 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 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).

Pensacola Spinal Rehab Center Offers Chiropractic Non-Surgical Care of Disc Herniation

Pensacola Spinal Rehab Center encourages you to make a Pensacola chiropractic appointment today. Trust Pensacola Spinal Rehab Center to provide evidence-based chiropractic care that relieves your spine pain many times without an MRI. Together, we can set a non-surgical (and even potentially non-MRI!) treatment plan to lessen your back pain.

Schedule your Pensacola chiropractic appointment now.