The Misuse and Pitfalls of MRI's and X-ray's for Pain || WBWL Ep 90

In this episode, we dive into the overutilization and misuse of X-ray and MRI imaging in diagnosing pain. While many physicians and healthcare providers rely heavily on imaging to uncover the root cause of pain, they often overlook the significant psychosocial impact it has on patients. These diagnostic tools can sometimes mislead or even cause more harm than good, shaping the way individuals perceive and cope with their pain.

We’ll explore the hidden consequences of overdiagnosis, unnecessary imaging, and the cycle it creates for those suffering from chronic pain. Learn how imaging can affect your journey to healing and why a more holistic, patient-centered approach is critical.

If you're tired of relying on imaging for answers and want to break free from the pain cycle, we invite you to apply for our Pain Relief Coaching Program. Let us guide you toward lasting results without relying on unnecessary imaging.

Apply now: https://go.flexwithdoctorjay.com/apply
We guarantee our results or will continue with work with you until you achieve them! 

Transcript

0:02

So I wanted to share a quick excerpt on why MRIs and X rays are heavily overutilized and why that might not be one of the primary things that you should consider when it comes to getting rid of any form of pain or seeing what is wrong and how to rectify that. So when you go to a physician or practitioner, very often they will ask you about your pain. Where is your pain? How long has it been going on? And very often, the thing that they're going to do is they're going to assign you to get an MRI or an X ray. And very often we would want that. The reason why we want to see that is to fix what we call the root cause. And that root cause could be that there could be a disc involvement. There could be some sort of cartilage damage or arthritis that you might want to figure out. Very often, that is what they'll recommend, is an MRI or an X ray. The reason why you might not want to consider that first is because it may cause a lot of fear and it may cause a lot of fear inducing behaviors that you might start to develop as a result of figuring out what you look like on the inside. So for example, if you actually got that information that you got an MRI on your lower back and you start to see that you have L4 L5 disc herniation and you start to see that you have multi level arthritis or facet arthrosis. What is generally going to be your first impressions when it comes to getting those results? Do you even know what those things actually mean? And if you don't know what those means and it's hard to interpret, then it creates a lot of anxiety and it creates a lot of uncertainty in you. That information, which is lots of information being thrown at you, oftentimes starts to create overwhelm. We've all heard that before. Information overload or information overwhelm. And that information in itself can create a lot of fear mongering behavior. It can cause you to want to curl up into a ball. Rather than empower yourself to do things that I actually give to my clients, or that often physical therapies would give, which is start to provide assurance, start to provide movement and exercises, to start to reduce that discomfort, is that we oftentimes will get the MRI and get an x ray, And that will eventually self limit our mindset, it will self limit our ability to do certain exercises. We may become fearful of doing certain exercises because of the information on what we look like on the inside. It is just very common for physicians and practitioners to automatically give these two things, which are MRIs and X rays, and oftentimes pain medication. Because pain medication To me, it's like giving candy to a baby. It's we want to pacify them as fast as possible. So the thing that they can provide as a mechanism of Pacification would be to give you pain medication, but also they want to figure out what's going on the inside Then they can provide their impressions. They can provide their report and be like no wonder you're dealing with pain So that's why that these are the things on the MRI and x ray these imagings show exactly what the root cause is But I'm here to tell you that's essentially not what the root cause is Did you know that 97 percent of pain, injury, diseases, are essentially all modifiable with lifestyle factors? So if you're having neck and low back pain or shoulder pain as a result of sitting at your desk is it really a result of what you might see on an MRI and X ray, which may show arthritis and things like that, or is it because of poor stress coping mechanisms? Is it because you're getting poor sleep? Is it because you're always overwhelmed and anxious at work, which creates a lot of tension in your body? Is it because financially you're not doing well, so therefore that's creating a lot of stress and overwhelm in yourself? Is there relationships around you that are not being rectified and that's causing you stress as well? So I'm not saying that everything is a result of stress. I'm also not, I'm also not basically saying that, excluding that, all information on MRIs and x rays are going to be bad, right? Some information is good. Some information is relevant. What I'm saying is that MRIs and x rays are often used as the first line of defense, which therefore perpetuates Essentially this pain catastrophizing you feeling helpless about your situation and saying There's nothing that can really help me because I already have arthritis in the first place when in fact that research their plethora of research Shows that MRIs and x rays are strictly just static images. They are static images They don't really determine how you feel and they are just static images so my thing that I always say to my clients is Imagine if I just took a picture of your face. Just take my camera, do a selfie, and then I strictly take a picture of your face. Now whether you're sad, happy, angry, depressed, I'm truly not really understanding who you are because it's strictly just a static image of who you are. I don't know your stressors, I don't know what makes you happy, I don't know what makes you sad. Okay, I don't know anything about your history, and that's essentially how we should perceive MRIs and x rays, too, is that it's strictly just a static image of what we look like on the inside, and therefore what we actually feel may not be the right interpretations of how we feel, okay? Because there are a lot of people over the age of 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80 years of age That have confirmed MRI confirmed on MRI that they have arthritis, that they have a herniated disc, they have facet arthrosis, they have disc degeneration. There's all these different things that again are always shown on MRIs and x rays that they're, your MRIs and x rays are not gonna look the same as if you were 10 years of age. When you're 10 years of age, 7 years of age, generally your spine is super healthy. There shouldn't be anything going wrong unless you have some sort of genetic anomaly. But, at the same time, again, We all know that we have a spine or we have extremities that look different from what we did when we were 10 years of age. So if we can confirm that we have these things in us already, that shouldn't determine how we feel, okay? Arthritis and things aren't always indicative of pain. Facet arthrosis and disc degeneration, I confirm that I actually have that right now. I've confirmed it since my early 20s that I have arthritis. Early disc degeneration in my neck, but I don't deal with any neck pain whatsoever. I also have lumbar scoliosis. I also have thoracic scoliosis. My spine is curved abnormally, apparently. And I can see that when I take pictures. I can see my sternum is tilted. But, does that give any indication of how I feel, how I function? No. Okay? Because I am a doctor of physical therapy. I'm in this gym six to seven days a week. I keep my body very strong. I've made mobility a habit. I eat pretty well. And so therefore my body on a daily basis, I don't deal with a lot of pain despite a lot of these confirmed diagnoses that have been thrown at me by various practitioners, chiropractors, massage therapists, you name it. Okay. So I just want to let you know that if you were to somewhat reverse time, like I'm talking to people that potentially they already got the MRI and x ray. Just rest assured that the things that you see are not always indicative of why you are dealing with something. If you're dealing with a specific pain in your shoulder, and you have maybe confirmed something in the shoulder, does it always mean that what we see on the MRIs are directly correlated with the exact amount of pain that we're feeling? Not exactly. Okay? You can still do a lot of strength training. You can do a lot of things that are within your control. that will allow you to have a pain free shoulder again, okay? That's what we call self efficacy. Self efficacy is the belief in yourself that you ha that you can determine your own outcomes, that you can determine whether you're in pain or not. So when you can be more self efficacious, which then empowers you to be in control of your own health, rather than having these MRIs or x ray results determine how you feel, because, look, we know that when we get more fearful, anxious, depressed, overwhelmed, we understand that we start to act differently. That in itself starts to create more pain in our body because of the anxiety and the fears itself. So we can tell ourselves and convince ourselves, persuade ourselves that everything's okay, just because I have an MRI x ray that has confirmed Damage in my body, that I'm confirmed damaged goods, it doesn't necessarily determine what I feel or how my life is going to look like in two years, five years, or ten years down the line. Okay? So if you can tell yourself and give yourself that absolute assurance that MRIs and x rays don't determine how I feel, the sooner you can start to get yourself back on track in terms of not just managing pain, which is Chronic pain management. That's for another podcast episode, for example, but I would definitely say to permanently Eliminate some of the pain, the tension, and some of the things that you're feeling on a daily basis. All right? So again, just wanted to give you this quick excerpt on why I feel that MRIs and x rays are heavily overutilized and if you want to know one more fact here is that MRIs and x rays, when somebody actually Confirms getting that and when they confirm that they've actually gotten an MRI or an x ray that increases the chance of you getting an injection or surgery by four folds down the line. Okay? Because you know what you look like on the inside, doctors and other practitioners and physicians have confirmed that potentially you're damaged goods, and therefore the only solution to fix the damaged goods is through surgery, or through some sort of more invasive measures. Come see a physical therapist, come see a practitioner that can empower you despite the MRIs and despite the x rays, And I think that you'll be well under track to living a pain free life. That's what I got for today, and if you have any questions, feel free to drop me a line, feel free to text me, email me. I'm foundflexitdrj on their Instagram, TikTok, YouTube or you can actually text us as well. Text us 415 965 6580. We're always happy to help. My team is always here to provide assurance and to provide you the right guidance for you to live that pain free life. Take care and have a good rest of your day.