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 where chiropractors like your Pflugerville chiropractor live day in and day out. Pflugerville Wellness Center values 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 Pflugerville patient’s back pain, neck pain, arm pain or leg pain symptoms signal the demand for an MRI, Pflugerville Wellness Center orders one for such a Pflugerville back pain patient. MRI may enhance your Pflugerville 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 is gone? Pflugerville chiropractic patients will often ask that of Pflugerville Wellness Center. 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 survey MRI images of low back pain sufferers to see if there is any connection between pain and no pain and the MRI at the beginning and end of treatment for back pain. Patients wonder, too. Pflugerville Wellness Center knows our Pflugerville back pain patients wonder!

Knowing that doctors and patients dealing with back pain like MRIs, a group of researchers set out to determine the value of MRI in predicting treatment outcomes in patients who had a herniated lumbar disc with sciatica. They questioned if MRI could help determine whether to do back surgery now or stay the course with conservative care. Pflugerville Wellness Center and the Pflugerville chiropractic low back pain patients we care for 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 caredid not affect the outcome. The two groups revealed significant difference in outcomes between them – surgical and conservative. (1) Pflugerville Wellness 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 was not much difference in those classic studies either: 50% versus 53% non-surgical versus surgical for back pain due to spinal stenosis (2) and 69% versus 61% surgical vs. non-surgical for sciatica (3).

Pflugerville Wellness Center Offers Chiropractic Non-Surgical Care of Disc Herniation

Pflugerville Wellness Center invites you to make a Pflugerville chiropractic appointment today. Trust Pflugerville Wellness Center 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 lessen your back pain.

Schedule your Pflugerville chiropractic appointment now.