Chiropractic Relieves Disc Herniation Related Pain Often Without MRI

MRIs are cool. MRIs display impressive pictures of the body. Chiropractors appreciate spinal MRI images. Why? The spine is your West Palm Beach chiropractor’s realm! Chiropractic Care appreciates the MRI image study for what it is: a a piece of the diagnostic puzzle. 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 latest news.

The Usefulness of MRI

When a West Palm Beach patient’s back pain, neck pain, arm pain or leg pain symptoms indicate the demand for an MRI, Chiropractic Care orders one for such a West Palm Beach back pain patient. MRI may add to your West Palm Beach chiropractor’s clinical understanding of the condition oftentimes (but not always!).  Pre-treatment and post-MRI studies are intriguing. Did the disc herniation reduce now that the pain left? West Palm Beach chiropractic patients will often ask that of Chiropractic Care. 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 check 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. Chiropractic Care is well aware that our West Palm Beach back pain patients wonder!

Knowing that doctors and patients dealing with back pain like MRIs, some researchers planned to determine if MRI is of value in determining how treatment outcomes will be for 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. Chiropractic Care and the West Palm Beach chiropractic low back pain patients we treat would love such a simple guide! Study participants were randomized to surgery or 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) Chiropractic Care 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 wasn’t much variation in those landmark studies either: 50% versus 53% non-surgical versus surgical for back pain due to spinal stenosis (2) and 69% versus 61% surgical versus non-surgical for sciatica (3).

Chiropractic Care Offers Chiropractic Non-Surgical Care of Disc Herniation

Chiropractic Care asks you to make a West Palm Beach chiropractic appointment today. Trust Chiropractic Care 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 West Palm Beach chiropractic appointment today.