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 Largo chiropractor live day in and day out. Hollstrom & Associates Inc 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 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 Largo patient’s back pain, neck pain, arm pain or leg pain symptoms indicate the need for an MRI, Hollstrom & Associates Inc arranges one for such a Largo back pain patient. MRI may supplement your Largo chiropractor’s clinical knowledge of the condition oftentimes (but not always!). Pre-treatment and post-MRI images are interesting. Did the disc herniation shrink now that the pain left? Largo chiropractic patients will often ask that of Hollstrom & Associates 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 ascertain 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. Hollstrom & Associates Inc is well aware that our Largo back pain patients wonder!
In noticing that doctors and patients find MRI images a curiosity when there is back pain and leg pain, some researchers planned to determine the value of MRI in predicting treatment outcomes in patients who had a herniated lumbar disc with sciatica. They speculated whether MRI could help determine whether to do back surgery now or stay the course with conservative care. Hollstrom & Associates Inc and the Largo chiropractic low back pain patients we care for would love such a simple indicator! 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 form of care. Another interesting finding: the size of the disc herniation at the beginning of caredid not affect the outcome. There was no significant difference in outcomes between the two groups – surgical and conservative. (1) Hollstrom & Associates Inc 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 landmark studies either: 50% versus 53% non-surgical vs. surgical for back pain due to spinal stenosis (2) and 69% versus 61% surgical vs. non-surgical for sciatica (3).
Hollstrom & Associates Inc Offers Chiropractic Non-Surgical Care of Disc Herniation
Hollstrom & Associates Inc asks you to make a Largo chiropractic appointment today. Trust Hollstrom & Associates Inc to provide evidence-based chiropractic care that alleviates 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 Largo chiropractic appointment now.
