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Do you have degeneration, arthritis, or disc bulges in your lower back?
The results of an X-ray or MRI can be frightening. X-rays and MRIs are meant to provide us with clarity about our diagnosis, but they often instill the belief that our body is fragile and broken resulting in uncertainty about our long-term spine health.
Statistically, many of you reading this have degeneration, arthritis, and disc bulges in the lower back. These issues become more common as we age similar to the wrinkles on our skin.
It's common for your doctor, physical therapist, or chiropractor to use phrases like “wear and tear” to describe the spine.
Recent studies show that “wear and tear” and arthritis on X-rays or MRIs are not correlated to pain. In other words, some people with arthritis have pain and other people with arthritis have no pain; therefore, arthritis is not the main factor "causing" pain.
The results of these recent studies are changing the language that health care providers use with their patients. In place of "wear and tear", health care providers are using phrases such as "normal age-related changes" because arthritis is a normal age-related change.
In the clinic, we often see people with severe arthritis who experience no pain and people with no arthritis who experience severe pain; therefore, it's important to develop a rehab program based on your current abilities rather than ONLY from the results of the X-ray or MRI.
The X-ray and MRI are still important for screening serious pathologies; however, the majority of people with lower back pain have no red flags for serious medical conditions.
Is your X-ray or MRI doing more harm than good?
In many cases, the X-ray and MRI create more harm than good due to the fear-inducing language used to describe the results of the tests such as "degeneration", "bone on bone", and "wear and tear."
These words induce fear rather than confidence. The first goal of a rehab program to reduce lower back pain is to remove fear and restore confidence. Then, new beliefs and movement patterns can be established to help you reduce pain and feel better.
If you have arthritis and degeneration, you will always have it and that is ok. It's only one small factor that may possibly contribute to your pain. Regardless of the results of the X-ray and MRI, you will benefit from a rehab program focusing on the factors contributing to your pain which you can control.
To illustrate the benefits of a properly designed rehab program, here is the story of Heather and Ross. (Their story is a fictional example of what happens to many people in the traditional health care system).
Continue reading the article to find out what happens to them! Here is the link again:
Have a strong day,
Marc
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