Surprisingly, one research study demonstrated how those with back pain who get an MRI within the first month of pain are 8 times more likely to have a spine surgery. These patients also had 5 times the medical expenses, and, of course, didn’t recover faster than those who didn’t get an MRI.

These findings are likely because of false positives found on the imaging tests. Imaging tests often reveal spinal abnormalities that are completely unrelated to the pain. One large study found that 40% of individuals under 30 years of age have positive MRI findings of disc arthritis. By 50 years of age, the prevalence of disc arthritis climbs to over 90%. I often refer to this as “grey hair and wrinkles” on the inside of the spine. It is the normal, slow process of spine aging that often gets blamed for new low back pain. When imaging tests reveal these normal spine changes in your painful back, you are more likely to be viewed as a candidate for spine surgery than someone whose spine is treated without surgery or injected drugs. If most spine pain isn’t caused by spine abnormalities found on imaging tests, then it is low back movement dysfunction that causes most back pain. If you already have been told that you have low back arthritis, don’t worry about that “causing” new or episodic low back pain. If the arthritis is always there, while the pain comes and goes, then here must be a better explanation of your pain.