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 Toronto chiropractor live day in and day out. Yorkville Chiropractic and Wellness Centre values the MRI image study for what it is: a tool. But MRIs are not always a clinical necessity. Can MRI help decide whether to use non-surgical care or surgical care for back pain relief? Read on for the latest findings.

The Usefulness of MRI

When a Toronto patient’s back pain, neck pain, arm pain or leg pain symptoms signal the demand for an MRI, Yorkville Chiropractic and Wellness Centre orders one for such a Toronto back pain patient. MRI may supplement your Toronto chiropractor’s clinical knowledge of the condition oftentimes (but not always!).  Pre-treatment and post-MRI images are interesting. Did the disc herniation reduce now that the pain left? Toronto chiropractic patients will often ask that of Yorkville Chiropractic and Wellness Centre. And researchers will examine MRIs for their research studies on just such a query.

The Curiosity of MRI

Researchers are not the only ones who curiously study MRI images of low back pain sufferers to check 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. Yorkville Chiropractic and Wellness Centre is well aware that our Toronto back pain patients wonder!

In noticing 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 who had a herniated lumbar disc with sciatica. They speculated whether MRI could help decide whether to do back surgery now or stay the course with conservative care. Yorkville Chiropractic and Wellness Centre and the Toronto 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 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) Yorkville Chiropractic and Wellness Centre reads 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 difference in those classic studies either: 50% versus 53% non-surgical vs. surgical for back pain due to spinal stenosis (2) and 69% versus 61% surgical versus non-surgical for sciatica (3).

Yorkville Chiropractic and Wellness Centre Offers Chiropractic Non-Surgical Care of Disc Herniation

Yorkville Chiropractic and Wellness Centre encourages you to make a Toronto chiropractic appointment today. Trust Yorkville Chiropractic and Wellness Centre 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 reduce your back pain.

Schedule your Toronto chiropractic appointment now.