Often when you get a scan done, whether it’s an Xray, MRI, CT, or something else, the report comes back showing one problem or another. It can be a bit of a trap to then attribute your symptoms to the problem found in the scan. But is that necessarily accurate? How worried should you really be if you get a scan and it shows something is wrong?
We asked our Massage Therapist Lewis Horenko to do a deep dive on the research on this topic, and his conclusions might surprise you.
One study that really answers this question perfectly came out in 2020. In this study, researchers grabbed 230 people with no knee symptoms, and gave them extremely high resolution MRI scans. They then correlated the scan results with questionnaires on pain and function.
In a truly stunning result, 97% of people had something show up. Remember, these are people with zero symptoms whatsoever. No pain, no stiffness, nada. To them, their knees were perfectly fine.
31% of people had “severe cartilage lesions”.
30% of people had meniscus tears.
There were all sorts of problems found, from partially ruptured anterior cruciate ligaments to high grade tendonitis.
And yet, zero symptoms.
All of these things are the kind that would make anyone freak out a little. But the reality is, they’re clearly incredibly common, and will not necessarily cause you any problems.
If you have any scan results you need interpreted feel free to contact us at any time.
To read the full study https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32060622/
