What does my scan or MRI say regarding my back pain?

What does my MRI or scan mean regarding my back pain? When you suffer back pain, at one point in time your doctor will prescribe a scan or MRI. The result is often some kind of diagnosis or in many cases, a complete list with all kinds of diagnoses or absence of diagnosis.
But what does a scan actually show and what is important to know?

Most scans show some kind of spinal abnormality

Research makes clear that most scans will show some kind of spinal anomalies.
As far back as 1994 a study was already published in the New England Journal of Medicine (1994), showing that out of the 98 people without back pain that went through an MRI-scan, 66 turned out to have abnormalities in their spine. But they never had any back pain.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/8208267/

Spinal ‘defects’ seem to increase with age

Another study where it becomes clear that spinal abnormalities on an MRI seem to increase with age.

The place and interpretation of scans matter

What is also important to realize about scans is that it matters where and who interprets the scan itself. There’s a challenge with scans: they require human interpretation and these humans do not always agree. Meaning that one and the same scan (maybe yours) can get different diagnoses depending on who’s looking at it. If the interpretation is different, it might also mean the proposed treatment differs. This indeed seemed the case.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27867079/

Error and discrepancy of radiologists

There’s another problem with interpreting scans; where errors and discrepancies by radiologists are discovered. A clinician referring a patient for a radio-logical investigation is generally looking for a number of things in the ensuing radiologist’s report: accuracy and completeness of identification of relevant findings, a coherent opinion regarding the underlying cause of any abnormalities and, where appropriate, guidance on what other investigations may be helpful. Errors and discrepancies in radiology practice are uncomfortably common.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5265198/

So what does your scan really tell you?

So the question remains: What does your scan really tell you?
There are so many people who have been told that a herniated disc, bulging disc, degenerated discs and so on are the cause of their pain. But in most cases, this is not the cause of your pain.

An abnormality on the spine is like grey hair: normal sign of aging

See and listen what Adam Heller, the creator of the Zero Pain Now program, has to say about degenerative disc disease on his website:

Your best next step to resolve your back pain?

So if a scan is not really showing you the cause of your pain, your best next step to resolve your back pain, can be to take a radical different approach. You have been working on the body probably already a long time and all you got is temporary relief.

Try pain coaching

Pain coaching can be a real way of banishing your chronic back pain. As stress is a main factor in somebody’s life and more specifically on repressed emotions, that’s where the key to healing is. This is not ‘everyday’ stress. It’s a specific stress related to your personality; sometimes you repress certain emotions. You Especially anger and rage. It’s not your fault, you don’t do this on purpose. It’s a bit of an unhelpful defense mechanism of the brain. That’s all. No big deal. Most chronic pain is just not a medical issue. Rather a diversion pain syndrome causing the pain.

In a process of neuro-plasticity, your brain will live a new experience over a 5 week period. You will create new habits and no longer repressing emotions. It will be so much easier to digest the daily stress. And the result is no more pain. In 5 weeks out of chronic back pain is easy and possible. Really.