Death and taxes are said to be the two certainties in life for adults, but Ben Franklin may have added low back pain given its’ current prevalence. Up to 90% of adults will report an episode of low back pain during their lifetimes. Fortunately, the vast majority of these episodes are not secondary to any...
Our understanding of low back (lumbar) disc injuries and their influence on a patient’s pain and function has grown tremendously over the last couple of decades. Importantly, understanding the high prevalence of lumbar disc pathology on MRI imaging in asymptomatic healthy adults over the age of 30. These studies have given pause to clinicians who...
In previous blogs we have discussed the limitations of imaging, including MRI, for musculoskeletal conditions including low back pain. The presence of pathology including disc herniations, nerve compression, arthritis, and degenerative disc disease increases with age in both pain free and painful individuals. The high degree of positive findings among asymptomatic individuals questions the ability...
Low back pain continues to be a common source of pain, loss of function, and in some cases disability. A portion of this weight on our society and medical system is the over emphasis on imaging findings including disc injury or degenerative disc disease as the source of a patient’s symptoms. Unfortunately, there is an...