Read Your Own Back MRI for Multifidus Atrophy-A Major Cause of Low Back Pain

So now you know what a “multifidus” is and why it’s so critical that you find out if your major low back stabilizing system if off line. However, 99.999% of the time (in my experience), radiologists fail to read whether this muscle is normal or atrophied, despite copious research that a atrophied (read weaker) multifidus is associated…read more

More on Why Your Knee MRI and a Nickel will get You a Cup of Coffee

My father used to say when he wanted to dismiss the importance of something that you could get that thing and a cup of coffee for a nickel. So it is with Knee MRI findings this morning. I have written many times in this blog that we have an entire medical system peering at MRI images…read more

Why are we still Operating on Hips solely based on MRI? Hip Labrum Surgery Mania Revisited…

 Before you allow someone to decide on surgery based on an MRI finding…you might want to get a good exam and try a hip labrum surgery alternative first.   A study just presented at the AOSSM conference demonstrates what we’ve been saying for years-operating or obsessing on MRI findings is a bad idea. Many patients these days often…read more

Why Does Knee Stem Cell Therapy Produce Long-term Improvements in Patients Who Have Little Change on Their MRI?

One of the things that has always mystified us is that while we’ve seen nice improvements in cartilage or bone signal on the knee MRI’s of our patients treated with stem cells, sometime patients have long-term pain/function improvements without any MRI changes. How does this work? I’ve always had a theory that there is a natural supply of mesenchymal…read more

Is your Abnormal Shoulder MRI Really Normal?

Is your abnormal shoulder MRI really normal?  I’ve blogged before on a very scary trend that continues despite the evidence-many things seen on MRI and blamed for the cause of the patient’s pain that lead to invasive surgery are really normal findings. This has shown to be the case with knee MRIs. For years we doctors…read more

More Data that Knee MRI Findings don’t always explain Knee Pain

MRI knee pain? If you have a hole in the cartilage, a meniscus tear, or arthritis on your knee MRI that means that these things are causing your knee pain, right? Not so fast. Much research over the past few years has shown that structure as seen on an MRI scan doesn’t equal pain. This…read more

What predicts which patients will need a knee replacement?

Interesting recent study on which MRI and other findings predict which patients will need a knee replacement surgery. The study followed 161 patients with knee arthritis until 18 of them needed knee replacement surgery. So what MRI findings predicted if they were likely to need a knee replacement surgery MRI? One that was associated was “bone marrow lesions”. These…read more

Do you Really Have Hip FAI or CAM Impingement?

A physician discusses how an MRI reading that says the patient has hip FAI or impingement may not correspond to a real diagnosis or the hip impinging and a need for hip surgery.