Chiropractic Reduces Disc Herniation Related Pain Often Without MRI

MRIs are fascinating. They show some great images of the body. Chiropractors like looking at spinal MRI images. Why? The spine is where chiropractors like your Ashburn chiropractor live day in and day out. Poulin Chiropractic of Herndon and Ashburn 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 decide whether to use non-surgical care or surgical care for back pain relief? Read on for the most recent findings.

The Usefulness of MRI

When a Ashburn patient’s back pain, neck pain, arm pain or leg pain symptoms signal the need for an MRI, Poulin Chiropractic of Herndon and Ashburn orders one for such a Ashburn back pain patient. MRI may supplement your Ashburn chiropractor’s clinical knowledge of the condition oftentimes (but not always!).  Pre-treatment and post-MRI studies are intriguing. Did the disc herniation shrink now that the pain disappeared? Ashburn chiropractic patients will often ask that of Poulin Chiropractic of Herndon and Ashburn. 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 look at MRI images of low back pain sufferers to ascertain 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. Poulin Chiropractic of Herndon and Ashburn knows our Ashburn back pain patients wonder!

Knowing 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 speculated whether MRI could help decide whether to do back surgery now or stay the course with conservative care. Poulin Chiropractic of Herndon and Ashburn and the Ashburn 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 type 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 the two groups – surgical and conservative. (1) Poulin Chiropractic of Herndon and Ashburn reads 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 variation 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).

Poulin Chiropractic of Herndon and Ashburn Offers Chiropractic Non-Surgical Care of Disc Herniation

Poulin Chiropractic of Herndon and Ashburn invites you to make a Ashburn chiropractic appointment today. Trust Poulin Chiropractic of Herndon and Ashburn 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 alleviate your back pain.

Schedule your Ashburn chiropractic appointment now.