How a spine MRI can help diagnose your back pain

Back pain can affect many aspects of your daily life, from mobility to mood and overall quality of life. The good news is that you don’t have to live with chronic or unexplained back pain. Identifying the root cause through advanced imaging, such as a spine MRI, is the first step toward effective relief and treatment.

To pinpoint the exact cause of your back pain—whether it’s nerve damage, disc issues, or muscle strain—your healthcare provider may recommend a spine MRI, one of the most accurate tools for diagnosing back-related conditions.

A spine MRI is a non-invasive, highly accurate tool to help identify the source of back pain. MRI scans take detailed, cross-sectional images of your spine and the surrounding areas, giving your healthcare provider accurate information about your back condition.

In this guide to spine MRIs, we’ll explain what your MRI results can show about your back pain, and how a spine MRI can detect conditions that cause back pain. As well as why an MRI is the gold standard for diagnosing pain in your back, and what you can expect from your results.

What a spine MRI can reveal about your back pain

A spine MRI scan takes dozens of pictures of your spine and of tissue surrounding your spine so that your healthcare provider can find the source of your pain. Your doctor may want to see a detailed picture of this tissue to rule out possible causes of your back pain, enabling them to focus on the source of your condition. They may also be looking for signs of nerve or tissue damage to help them better understand what is causing your pain.

Why did my doctor recommend a spine MRI for my back pain?

Your doctor uses a spine MRI to learn more about what is happening with your spine and the surrounding tissue. If there is no obvious cause of back pain, such as an accident or other trauma, an MRI can look closely at the tissue surrounding the spine to see what else could be causing the pain. 

An MRI can help your doctor rule out causes such as nerve damage, cancer, or pain caused by a disease. Conditions identified by a spine MRI might include checking for herniated discs, spinal infection, or inflammation of the spinal cord.

What can a spine MRI tell my doctor about my back pain?

A spine MRI can reveal nerve damage that may be causing your pain, including changes in tissue, like compressed nerves in your back. A spine MRI can identify the location and severity of this soft tissue damage. A spine MRI could also reveal damage to the spinal cord or a herniated disc, which can happen when the soft center of the disc is damaged and has lost its cushioning ability.

How does a spine MRI show problems in the bones, muscles, and soft tissue conditions?

A spine MRI uses radio waves and a magnetic field to reveal the details of nerves, muscles, ligaments, and tendons surrounding the spine. Your healthcare provider uses this information, along with your health history and reported symptoms, to determine if there are problems in your bones, muscles, and soft tissues that may be contributing to your pain.

How a spine MRI detects conditions that can commonly cause back pain

 A spine MRI is widely regarded as the most detailed and sensitive diagnostic tool for understanding the causes of back pain, especially when compared to X-rays or CT scans. Doctors who order a spine MRI may be looking for a variety of conditions related to back pain. Because it is so detailed, an MRI can show a narrowing of the spinal column (called spinal stenosis), which may be caused by a past injury or age-related decline. A spine MRI can also find fractures in the spine, abnormal tissue growth, and compressed nerves.

How does an MRI detect herniated or bulging discs?

An MRI shows the soft tissue inside each of the discs in our spine. In a healthy spine, the gel-like soft tissue is contained inside each disc, providing a cushion within the spine. If a disc is herniated or bulging, it means this gel is not providing the desired cushion, and it can put pressure on adjacent nerves and cause pain.

Can an MRI help identify spinal stenosis and other conditions affecting the spinal cord?

The images from a spinal MRI will show if there is a narrowing of the spinal canal, also called spinal stenosis. A narrowing of this space can affect nerves, causing pain, weakness, or numbness. 

The images from this scan can reveal whether spinal stenosis is present, as well as the extent to which it exists. Other abnormalities that may be present, like fractures, inflammation, or misaligned discs, will also show up on a spine MRI.

How a Spine MRI Identifies Fractures, Inflammation, and Alignment Issues Causing Pain?

An MRI scan can help identify specific causes of back pain not just in the bones of the spine, but also in the soft tissues of your back. It can reveal fractures by showing tiny breaks in the vertebrae that may not appear on an X-ray. 

MRI scans also highlight inflammation, allowing doctors to see areas where tissue swelling might be pressing on nerves or surrounding structures. Further, an MRI can also provide a clear picture of your spinal alignment, which helps detect issues like disc herniation or misaligned vertebrae that could contribute to pain.

Why an MRI scan is the gold standard for imaging the soft tissues and nerves of your spine

A spine MRI is the most sensitive scan for revealing images of the soft tissues and nerves of your spine. The pictures from an MRI can show details within your tissues and your nerves that other imaging scans, like X-rays and CT scans, cannot show. Importantly, there is no radiation exposure during a spine MRI. All of these factors are what make a spine MRI the gold standard for spinal imaging.

How does a spine MRI reveal signs of soft tissue injuries, like muscle or ligament strains?

A spine MRI reveals signs of soft tissue injuries like muscle or ligament strains by changes seen in the scan. Your doctor may look for areas appearing brighter than surrounding areas on the scan, which could indicate injuries or tissue damage. Spine MRI scans can distinguish between muscles, tendons, and ligaments, so the source of any injury can be more readily identified. 

What can a spine MRI show about nerve compression or pinched nerves in the back?

A pinched or compressed nerve in the spine can result from surrounding bones, ligaments, or muscles putting pressure on the nerve. This may present as numbing, tingling, or pain. 

The images from a spine MRI show details of the nerves and any abnormalities, inflammation, or structural issues resulting in pressure on a nerve. Any displacement affecting nerve function will be seen on the spine MRI.

How can an MRI scan identify an infection or a tumor near the spine?

A spine MRI will reveal abnormal conditions in the spine such as inflammation, infection, or abnormal tissue growth. The scan shows abnormalities such as fluid collection, which could indicate an infection, or excess tissue growth indicating a tumor. Sometimes contrast dye, which is used during an MRI to help show hard-to-see areas of your body, is used to provide greater image resolution for your scan.

What to know about your spine MRI results

Your spine MRI results will help your doctor understand what may be causing your pain. The scan is useful to both rule out some conditions and possibly identify other issues contributing to your back pain. The detailed imagery will show the spine and the nerves and tissues surrounding the spine. This will help your doctor to move forward with appropriate care. 

How are my spine MRI results interpreted? How long will it take to get my results? 

Your spine MRI results will usually be ready in a few days. The sub-specialized radiologist, who is highly trained to understand the nuances of spine MRIs, will carefully review the scan and prepare a detailed report for your doctor based on the results. From there, your doctor will contact you to discuss your results.

How will my MRI results help my doctor to make a treatment plan for my care?

Your results will help your provider to rule out certain conditions that may be causing your back pain, so they can more clearly craft a treatment plan. Your provider will be able to use the results of the scan to discuss possible treatment options with you. Depending on what is found on the scan, your provider may want to discuss physical therapy, prescription medication, surgery, or further testing.

What questions should I ask my provider about my spine MRI results?

When discussing your spine MRI results with your doctor, asking targeted questions can help you to better understand your diagnosis and treatment options, so you’ll be prepared. Here are some helpful questions to ask your doctor about your results:

• What do my results show about the source of my back pain?
• Do my results show any fractures, inflammation, or misalignments? 
• How severe is my condition?
• Does anything in my MRI results require immediate or urgent action?
• Would additional imaging help to clarify any of these findings?

These questions can provide a clearer understanding of your MRI results, helping you work with your provider to decide on the best approach to relieve your back pain, so you can return to your regular quality of life.

How to schedule your scan with us

When you get your scan at a Gateway Diagnostic Imaging center, we’ll make sure you have access to affordable, high-quality medical imaging from specialized radiologists and certified technologists. 

Reach out to a Gateway imaging center near you, and schedule your appointment today.