Have you ever been shown an image such as an X-ray, MRI or ultrasound and then saw a scary broken down knee or spine or shoulder in the absence of any trauma? And then you were told this was badly “degenerated”, “damaged”, or there was a “bulge”, or “bone on bone” in your body which is immediately assumed as the source of your pain?

Well we now know this to be a myth as there has been countless studies showing that there is a poor-correlations between the extent of “abnormalities” shown on your imaging and the presence of your pain and disability levels. Also, a lot of these image findings are very common in people without pain or loss of function and simply represents normal age-related changes like our wrinkles!

Imaging are not consistent and can often change. There are also times when repeated scans show little to no changes but yet their symptoms have improved or resolved – so we can’t even say these “abnormal” structures are the source of your pain with any certainties.

So, don’t rely only on the scan which is one small piece of the puzzle – as there is always going to be other contributing factors going on that forms the bigger picture in causing your pain, which our qualified clinicians can investigate for you and develop a tailored plan with you so that you can get back to the life you want again!

Scans are still very important and should still be done but only for a very minority of people where something more serious or sinister possibly could be going on such as a fracture.

Speak to one of our clinicians if you are concerned about whether you need a scan or not or if you want to know how your scan is linked to your pain.