Chiropractic Relieves Disc Herniation Related Pain Often Without MRI

MRIs are cool. MRIs display pretty pictures of the body. Chiropractors appreciate spinal MRI images. Why? The spine is where chiropractors like your West Palm Beach chiropractor live day in and day out. Moses Chiropractic 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 latest findings.

The Usefulness of MRI

When a West Palm Beach patient’s back pain, neck pain, arm pain or leg pain symptoms denote the demand for an MRI, Moses Chiropractic requests one for such a West Palm Beach back pain patient. MRI may add to your West Palm Beach chiropractor’s clinical perception of the condition oftentimes (but not always!).  Pre-treatment and post-MRI images are intriguing. Did the disc herniation reduce now that the pain left? West Palm Beach chiropractic patients will often ask that of Moses Chiropractic. And researchers will consider MRIs for their research studies on just such a query.

The Curiosity of MRI

Researchers are not the only ones who curiously look at MRI images of low back pain sufferers to ascertain if there is any correlation between pain and no pain and the MRI pre and post treatment for back pain. Patients wonder, too. Moses Chiropractic knows our West Palm Beach back pain patients wonder!

In noticing that doctors and patients dealing with back pain like MRIs, some researchers set out to determine if MRI is of value in determining how treatment outcomes will be for patients who had a herniated lumbar disc with sciatica. They questioned if MRI could help decide whether to do back surgery now or stay the course with conservative care. Moses Chiropractic and the West Palm Beach 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 – signified 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 them – surgical and conservative. (1) Moses Chiropractic 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 was not much variation 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 versus non-surgical for sciatica (3).

Moses Chiropractic Offers Chiropractic Non-Surgical Care of Disc Herniation

Moses Chiropractic encourages you to make a West Palm Beach chiropractic appointment today. Trust Moses Chiropractic 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 alleviate your back pain.

Schedule your West Palm Beach chiropractic appointment now.