Chiropractic Relieves Disc Herniation Related Pain Often Without MRI

MRIs are cool. They show some great images of the body. Chiropractors like looking at spinal MRI images. Why? The spine is your Elgin chiropractor’s realm! Connected Chiropractic values the MRI image study for what it is: a tool. But MRIs are not always clinically necessary. Can MRI help determine 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 Elgin patient’s back pain, neck pain, arm pain or leg pain symptoms denote the demand for an MRI, Connected Chiropractic orders one for such a Elgin back pain patient. MRI may enhance your Elgin chiropractor’s clinical knowledge of the condition oftentimes (but not always!).  Pre-treatment and post-MRI images are intriguing. Did the disc herniation shrink now that the pain is gone? Elgin chiropractic patients will often ask that of Connected Chiropractic. 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 see 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. Connected Chiropractic knows our Elgin back pain patients wonder!

Knowing that doctors and patients dealing with back pain like MRIs, a group of researchers set out 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 determine whether to do back surgery now or stay the course with conservative care. Connected Chiropractic and the Elgin chiropractic low back pain patients we treat would love such a simple indicator! 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 – signified a satisfactory outcome with either form of care. Another noteworthy finding:  the size of the disc herniation at the beginning of care didn’t affect the outcome. There was no significant difference in outcomes between them – surgical and conservative. (1) Connected Chiropractic 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% vs. 53% non-surgical vs. surgical for back pain due to spinal stenosis (2) and 69% vs. 61% surgical versus non-surgical for sciatica (3).

Connected Chiropractic Offers Chiropractic Non-Surgical Care of Disc Herniation

Connected Chiropractic invites you to make a Elgin chiropractic appointment today. Trust Connected Chiropractic 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 reduce your back pain.

Schedule your Elgin chiropractic appointment now.