Suggest Treatment For Severe Back Pain

Posted on Mon, 17 Apr 2017

Medically reviewed by Ask A Doctor - 24x7 Medical Review Team

Mon, 17 Apr 2017 Answered on

Tue, 9 May 2017 Last reviewed on

Question : Dr. XXXXXXX

Hello . I just had one more question for you . I've had a back pain for the

past three weeks . I wanted to make sure it was not a fracture in my back

Do you think I should ask my doctor for an MRI or for an X-ray to see ?
Which is the most effective ?

Thank you for your time .

Answered by Dr. Chander Mohan Singh (4 hours later)

Brief Answer:
MRI scan.

Detailed Answer:
Hi,

Thanks for the query my friend.

You should ask your orthopedic surgeon to do your clinical examination, he will automatically advise you MRI scan of back, where the pain is present.

Remember MRI scan will tell about everything like vertebrae, inter-vertebral disc, surrounding soft tissue, compression of nerves if any, etc in detail.

Where as xray only tell tells about the fracture but it does not tells about the geometry of fracture which is more important for orthopedic surgeon, to decide for the treatment.

I hope you got the point.

Thanks,

Dr.CHANDER XXXXXXX XXXXXXX

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Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Yogesh D