Chiropractic Reduces Disc Herniation Related Pain Often Without MRI

MRIs are fascinating. MRIs display impressive pictures of the body. Chiropractors appreciate spinal MRI images. Why? The spine is your Carrolltown chiropractor’s realm! Gormish Chiropractic & Rehabilitation appreciates the MRI image study for what it is: a tool. But MRIs are not always clinically necessary. Can MRI help decide whether a surgical or non-surgical approach is appropriate for back pain relief? Read on for the latest news.

The Usefulness of MRI

When a Carrolltown patient’s back pain, neck pain, arm pain or leg pain symptoms indicate the need for an MRI, Gormish Chiropractic & Rehabilitation orders one for such a Carrolltown back pain patient. MRI may add to your Carrolltown chiropractor’s clinical knowledge of the condition oftentimes (but not always!).  Pre-treatment and post-MRI images are intriguing. Did the disc herniation reduce now that the pain is gone? Carrolltown chiropractic patients will often ask that of Gormish Chiropractic & Rehabilitation. And researchers will examine MRIs for their research studies on just such a question.

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. Gormish Chiropractic & Rehabilitation knows our Carrolltown 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 the value of MRI in predicting treatment outcomes in patients with sciatic leg pain due to a herniated lumbar disc. They questioned if MRI could help determine whether to do back surgery now or stay the course with conservative care. Gormish Chiropractic & Rehabilitation and the Carrolltown 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 form of care. Another noteworthy 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) Gormish Chiropractic & Rehabilitation sees similar reports more and more in the back pain research.  Remember the Atlas studies of surgical and non-surgical interventions for back pain and sciatica? There wasn’t 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).

Gormish Chiropractic & Rehabilitation Offers Chiropractic Non-Surgical Care of Disc Herniation

Gormish Chiropractic & Rehabilitation encourages you to make a Carrolltown chiropractic appointment today. Trust Gormish Chiropractic & Rehabilitation 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 Carrolltown chiropractic appointment now.