Think twice before getting an MRI

The MRI, or magnetic resonance imaging, is an amazing piece of technology. But MRIs continue to be overused even after guidelines in 2007 from the American College of Physicians and American Pain Society strongly discourage the use of MRIs for many patients with back pain. The rate of MRI has continued to grow since 2007, if at a slower rate. 

The problem with MRIs in many situations of back pain, shoulder pain, knee pain, etc is that the results of an MRI don't often show what is causing the pain the person is experiencing. And MRIs can show abnormalities that have nothing to do with the person's pain sometimes leading to unnecessary, costly and dangerous surgery. ​

Here are some of the main points these studies have shown:

1. MRI's of healthy people with no pain or symptoms often show abnormalities like disc herniations, meniscus tears, or rotator cuff tears. 
2. MRI's of people with pain and symptoms often show no abnormalities. 
3. A person's pain and the abnormalities shown on an MRI often don't correlate. For example, a larger herniation doesn't mean more pain than a small herniation. 

MRI's also never show the cause of them problem, only the symptom. A herniated disc, meniscus tear, or stenosis are all symptoms caused by posture and movement imbalances. Posture and movement imbalances are what also cause the pain and other symptoms you are experiencing. There is a postural explanation for why you herniated L4-5 on the right side. The MRI can't tell you that. There is a postural explanation for why you tore the medial meniscus on your left knee and not your right knee. The MRI can't tell you that. There is a postural explanation for why you have lumbar stenosis at L4-5 and L5-S1. The MRI can't tell you that. A free posture evaluation can tell you why and how to fix it. 

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References and more information: 
https://www.acpjournals.org/doi/10.7326/0003-4819-147-7-200710020-00006
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2749213
https://www.painscience.com/articles/mri-and-x-ray-almost-useless-for-back-pain.php