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 San Jose chiropractor live day in and day out. McMurray Chiropractic Solutions values the MRI image study for what it is: a a piece of the diagnostic puzzle. 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 latest news.

The Usefulness of MRI

When a San Jose patient’s back pain, neck pain, arm pain or leg pain symptoms denote the need for an MRI, McMurray Chiropractic Solutions orders one for such a San Jose back pain patient. MRI may supplement your San Jose chiropractor’s clinical knowledge of the condition oftentimes (but not always!).  Pre-treatment and post-MRI studies are interesting. Did the disc herniation reduce now that the pain is gone? San Jose chiropractic patients will often ask that of McMurray Chiropractic Solutions. 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 survey MRI images of low back pain sufferers to ascertain 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. McMurray Chiropractic Solutions knows our San Jose back pain patients wonder!

In noticing that doctors and patients dealing with back pain like MRIs, 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 questioned if MRI could help decide whether to do back surgery now or stay the course with conservative care. McMurray Chiropractic Solutions and the San Jose chiropractic low back pain patients we treat 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 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 the two groups – surgical and conservative. (1) McMurray Chiropractic Solutions reads similar reports increasingly 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% vs. 61% surgical vs. non-surgical for sciatica (3).

McMurray Chiropractic Solutions Offers Chiropractic Non-Surgical Care of Disc Herniation

McMurray Chiropractic Solutions encourages you to make a San Jose chiropractic appointment today. Trust McMurray Chiropractic Solutions 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 San Jose chiropractic appointment today.