There is an old saying in medicine “the difference between pathology and pain is the patient”. In our Boulder Physical Therapy and Lafayette Physical Therapy clinics this is shown in the interpretation of MRI results. As these images have become more and more sensitive they rarely miss anything in the body, but often find pathology...
MRI technology continues to improve benefiting clinicians searching for serious pathology, but at a cost of identifying non serious pathology which may not be related to a patient’s clinic presentation. Initial imaging studies in the 1990s were conducted in the lumbar spine which identified a high percentage of structural changes including disc herniations and spinal...
The old saying that you can’t unring a bell is true in imaging for musculoskeletal conditions. Most patients cannot unsee their MRI results despite improvements in their symptoms and activity level with Physical Therapy treatments. Once terms such as bulging or degeneration have been utilized to describe their spines they never regain full confidence in...
photo credit: radiopaedia.org Magnetic Resonance Images (MRI) have become increasingly sensitive to detecting abnormalities and pathologies in our bodies. As the technology has advanced radiologists are far less likely to miss an abnormality in the musculoskeletal system, but are more likely to find abnormalities that may or may not be causing a patient’s current symptoms....
Imaging technologies, including MRI, continue to improve providing valuable insight into the human body. These advancements have made MRI scans extremely sensitive to identifying tissue pathology and the presence of disease within the body. In the musculoskeletal system, the MRI’s sensitivity reduces its’ ability to specifically detect symptomatic vs. asymptomatic pathology. For example, after age...
Aging occurs in all of our body systems including the spine. Similar to wrinkles and grey hair, the spine will demonstrate age related changes including disk bulges, herniations, facet and ligament changes, as well as, degeneration around age 30. Interestingly, we find a high percentage of these changes in people with and without neck pain. Thus,...
MRI testing of the shoulder is no different than testing in other body regions. Pathologies such as bursa changes, tendinopathies, labral and rotator cuff tears are very common in asymptomatic populations and tend to increase with an individual’s age. Many of these MRI findings do not contribute to a patient’s current symptoms and may be...
In the absence of rare spine pathology the only abnormal low back MRI is a normal MRI. After age 30 many of our spines will age and positive findings will become more common in patients with and without back pain. MRIs have tremendous sensitivity and can find even the smallest amount of pathology, but their...
Photo Credit: radiopaedia.org Lumbar stenosis is a spinal condition where nerves are compressed by the bony canals in our spine. When symptomatic, this condition can lead to leg pain, numbness, pins and needles, and weakness in one or both legs of older adults. Physical Therapy has been shown as effective as surgery for this condition and...
In our previous blog posts we have written on the limitations of MRI for many injuries and conditions. In general, these expensive tests have high rates of false positives where patients without pain often have positive results including ligament/labrum tears or tendon changes. The incidence of false of positives increases in athletes with the majority...