Dr. Maya Sarkisyan, D.O.M
20 April 2016
Do you think it’s hard to custom design your life? Do you believe it’s for the rich and wealthy only?
Think again!
From time to time a new patient enters my clinic complaining of physical pain of “unknown origin”. The pain been there for a while and nobody knows what it is. I have a rule to not right away treat the pain, no matter how tempting it is. There are too many components involved – type of pain, duration, location, age of the patient, history, and many more. Especially when patient states no other specialists succeeded in eliminating his/her pain. At that point I proceed to my usual diagnostic methods to figure out what I’m dealing with.
One of the questions patients sometimes ask is: “Should I go for MRI?”. And this is what I want to talk about.
MRI is an important diagnostic tool that uses powerful magnets and radio waves to create pictures of the body. It is a lengthy, involved, and expensive procedure showing us if there are any changes in the tissue. There are also cases where MRI cannot be performed for various reasons, and some cases when it is not necessary.
For this article I will give a typical example of patient who has a shoulder pain for a few months. He already been to chiropractor, acupuncture community clinic, internal medicine doctor, orthopedic surgeon, priest, and nutritionist. At last his friend gave him my card and he came to me to figure out what is going on.
The question “Should I go for an MRI?” has an answer. It’s “It depends what is going on and what you are planning to do after you get the report”. Unlike psychic reading, MRI report can contain a finite number of problems it can reveal and some of these problems can be diagnosed without it. Besides, I have seen many MRI reports with words such as “probably”, “maybe”, “unclear”, “assume”. If, after $800, I get a report like that I would be very upset. So, let’s take a look at what can happen after you get your report.
The worst case scenario. Something is torn. There is an internal scar tissue. Something serious.
The report is vague (like I described above).
Everything is peachy. Some age related degenerative changes. (this what I see most of the time in the report)
Prior to scheduling an MRI you should decide what you are going to do after you get your results.
It is very important to know that there is a certain hypnotic phenomena happening as the orthopedic surgeon is giving you news that something is torn or damaged. The surgeon will suggest… steroid injection and/or surgery! Just like chiropractor will suggest adjustment, and acupuncturist – acupuncture. This is what surgeon knows and it is what he believes will be the right thing to do. Therefore you have to be ready and already have a plan. Never agree to anything right away. You should get your report, get opinions, facts, statistics, reviews, etc.
In many cases there is no need for surgery and definitely no need for an injection. In chronic conditions cortisone injections might provide a temporary relief and create long-term tissue damage. It stops inflammation but the injured tissue continues to degenerate deprived of the inflammatory restorative processes.
A good holistic diagnostician is able understand the problem and create a plan to correct it. There are many ways to diagnose using traditional methods. Technology is great and I use it all the time, MRI report can provide some extra information, but if it’s not available we have lots of information anyway. It is also crucially important to understand why trauma happened.
For tears in muscle and ligament tissue, internal scar tissue, calcifications, and other degenerative changes there are methods of healing that are minimally invasive or non-invasive at all, which will help the tissue to heal and protect it from tearing again. We take in consideration many aspects of the trauma besides the present situation, to create change desired. The right combination of methods applied depends on these aspects, and also on the personal and medical history of the patient. It takes time and dedication to create a positive change, and when you understands it the healing will happen faster than you expect.
#mri #painrelief #acupuncture #coldlaser #diagnostics #muscleinjury #tendoninjury
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