MRI's, Injections & Surgery

Back pain can be very scary, especially when you have nerve pain that goes down your leg or legs. It also can be very debilitating, where a person can go from running around a basketball court to not being able to tie their shoes or walk upright. For these reasons, people tend to first run to the doctor's office hoping to get an MRI to know how bad their injury is. The MRI often reveals loads of scary words ("degenerative disc disease" or "disc herniation" etc) which understandably causes people to seek injections or surgery to immediately "fix" the problem.

MRI Findings in Asymptomatic People

 What Can Physical Therapy (PT) Do?

All of the above information is not to say that there is no place for these things (MRI's, injections or surgery). But it is important to understand that these should not be the first lines of approach but the last in the vast majority of cases. A conservative (exercise) approach has consistently been shown to be as good or better than surgery at the 1 year & following marks. It has also been shown that those who undergo surgery once are much more likely to undergo more surgery in the future.

Is There a Particular Kind of PT That is Better?

Research seems to show that there is. Below is a comparison of the McKenzie Method (MDT), which we practice at Strength & Shield, versus general back exercises and also versus Chiropractic care. As you can see, MDT offers superior benefits over non-MDT Physical Therapy and over Chiropractic care when it comes to low back pain.

 Summary

• Most people don't need to first go to MRI's or injections or surgeries, which don't seem to be beneficial or helpful in most cases.
• Surgery & Injections are not superior to exercise only groups.
• Most people can obtain quick relief through the MDT method and then be taught to self-manage.
• MDT Physical Therapy is superior to general exercises & Chiropractic care.

Blog Posts on Managing Back Pain