Chiropractic Reduces Disc Herniation Related Pain Often Without MRI
MRIs are fascinating. MRIs display impressive pictures of the body. Chiropractors like looking at spinal MRI images. Why? The spine is your Groton chiropractor’s realm! Shoreline Medical Services/ Hutter Chiropractic Office 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 most recent news.
The Usefulness of MRI
When a Groton patient’s back pain, neck pain, arm pain or leg pain symptoms signal the need for an MRI, Shoreline Medical Services/ Hutter Chiropractic Office orders one for such a Groton back pain patient. MRI may enhance your Groton chiropractor’s clinical perception of the condition oftentimes (but not always!). Pre-treatment and post-MRI studies are interesting. Did the disc herniation shrink now that the pain disappeared? Groton chiropractic patients will often ask that of Shoreline Medical Services/ Hutter Chiropractic Office. And researchers will consider 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 check if there is any correlation between pain and no pain and the MRI pre and post treatment for back pain. Patients wonder, too. Shoreline Medical Services/ Hutter Chiropractic Office is well aware that our Groton 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 with sciatic leg pain due to a herniated lumbar disc. They questioned if MRI could help decide whether to do back surgery now or stay the course with conservative care. Shoreline Medical Services/ Hutter Chiropractic Office and the Groton chiropractic low back pain patients we care for 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 – indicated a satisfactory outcome with either type 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 them – surgical and conservative. (1) Shoreline Medical Services/ Hutter Chiropractic Office 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 difference in those classic 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).
Shoreline Medical Services/ Hutter Chiropractic Office Offers Chiropractic Non-Surgical Care of Disc Herniation
Shoreline Medical Services/ Hutter Chiropractic Office encourages you to make a Groton chiropractic appointment today. Trust Shoreline Medical Services/ Hutter Chiropractic Office 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 Groton chiropractic appointment today.
