3 “ Having an MRI and getting surgery will usually fix my problem. ” This is another common misconception. While there are certainly some conditions that do require MRI and surgery, more and more research is showing that conservative care is equal in outcomes to surgery and is much less painful, risky and expensive! In most cases, you should be cautious about surgeons who recommend surgery without recommending you try conservative approaches such as physical therapy first. Sometimes the desire for a “quick fix” can backfire and leave patients with new or worse problems than they started with. Even worse, sometimes an MRI will show problems that a surgeon will rush to operate on, only to find out it was not the true cause of the pain to begin with. A study in the New England Journal of Medicine showed NO correlation between MRI findings and patient pain complaints. In addition, it showed that depression was a more accurate predictor of future low back pain than the MRI findings. The New England Journal of Medicine said, “Many people with knee osteoarthritis (OA) and a meniscal tear may be able to avoid surgery and achieve comparable relief from physical therapy.” The Annals of Internal Medicine showed that physical therapy worked as well as surgery for easing symptoms of lumbar spinal stenosis, a common cause of lower back pain. NIH.gov found that patients with low back pain sent first for MRIs were more likely to have surgery or injections, see a specialist or visit an emergency room than those who were first sent to see a Physical Therapist. In addition, the average cost of care for these patients was $4793 more than it was for those that tried physical therapy first. Here are a few examples of the benefits of trying therapy first from the recent literature:
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