To X-ray or not to X-ray?

Every single day in the clinic we see clients that are concerned that they might need an x-ray to tell them if something is wrong or not. But our question to you is: what changes if the x-ray does show something? Does the result of that x-ray stop you getting treatment?

Studies have shown that more than 90% of people aged 60 or above will show signs of disc degeneration if x-rayed, but do 90% of 60 year olds suffer with back pain? NO! Our body is dumb, it cant do anything without the brain telling it what to do. This is the same when it comes to experiencing pain.

Let’s say you wake up in the morning and your back hurts. You might just put it down to sleeping in an awkward position, but have you actually damaged any of the tissue in your back overnight? Probably not! So why does it hurt? Signals have been sent from your lower back up to the brain, and the brain has interpreted them as potentially dangerous, so sends a signal back saying that it hurts. It’s a warning sign for you that something MAY be wrong in that area, and you need to do something about it.

Pain is complicated, but the most important thing to know is that the pain you experience does not equate to the amount of tissue damage there is. This is the reason we refer less than 5% of our clients for x-ray. Our main focus in the clinic is to get your nervous system functioning better, as it’s that that controls everything to do. By improving your nervous system, we can change the signals that are being sent to the brain in the first place, so the brain doesn’t interpret it as pain.

The treatment we provide helps to re-establish proper brain-body communication and improve posture and body movements, so you have better control over your body which helps reduce the risk of injury.

If you’re someone who’s worried about your pain, or you’ve had x-rays in the past and the results have concerned you, why not book in for a FREE Discovery Visit and find out how we can help!