Understanding Your Back Scans

People come in to us all the time wielding MRIs of their spines that show bulges and breakdowns and compression and degeneration and – we’ve seen it all. We’ve seen it all because these findings are extremely common in people. So much so that they show up in people… with no pain. Asymptomatic patients (no pain or other symptoms).

If there’s one message we want to hammer home to every patient who walks through our door, it’s this:

You are not your scans

Findings on scans are not indicative of whether or not you’ll have pain. So degenerative findings on a spinal imaging do not determine whether or not you have pain or whether or not you have dysfunction.

As much as it would make sense to be able to link every moment of pain to a specific mechanical source (disc, joint, nerve, etc) it’s just not that simple. We are constantly reminding people that people with pain often have crystal clear MRI findings, AND people with NO pain can have LOTS show on their MRI. Let’s use our Physio Seth as an example

Have you had an MRI to your back? Are you concerned about the results? Get in touch with us and we’ll help you understand what is and isn’t worth worrying about.

More Information About Understanding Your Back Scans

For more information about Understanding Your Back Scans, or any other physio related questions you might have please get in touch.