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Question: I appreciate the opportunity to get an opinion on my injury.---- I fell from a height of 3 ft. squarely on the base of my spine onto concrete with my feet and arms in the air in such a way that I could not break my fall. ---- very painful and scary! But after about ten minutes of crying and yelling, I was surprised I could stand up, call my doctor and then got an X-ray 2 hours later, the results of which were that there was no fracture, only extreme arthritis detected. My doctor advised taking Aleve, but I don't do well with anti-inflammatories and within 24 hours I was experiencing stomach pain, so I stopped it. The fall occurred a little over two weeks ago. I am still in pain, but remaining active because of my schedule. I am 70 year old female and surprised that all the radiologist saw was arthritis. What should I do? MRI? The impact of the fall was so forceful and traumatic, I can't believe I wouldn't I at least have serious bone or soft tissue contusions? The day after the fall I flew out of state and just returned this weekend, so I haven't had an opportunity to see my doctor again. Thank you for any advise you can share!
Brief Answer:
MRI to be done in correlation with symptoms.
Detailed Answer:
Hi, I had gone through your question and understand your concerns.
X-ray shows only bone structures of your vertebral column and their alignment ( lucky there are no fractures or luxacion), but doesn't show any possible soft tissue traumatic damage, so if you continue to feel pain after two weeks of column injury (especially it was forceful impact) a vertebral column MRI should be done to evaluate soft tissue ( muscles, ligaments, nerves, blood vessels) damage.
In addition arthritis has been there from long time, so it is indispensable a evaluation of arthritis stage and vertebral column MRI is one of the imaging studies needed for this purpose, besides x-Rays.
In mean time you can use a Paracetamol-Codeine combination ( 500/30 mg if you are not allergic) to control the pain.
I suggest you to discuss with your treating Doctor the possibility of having vertebral column MRI done.
Hope this answers your question. If you have additional questions or follow up questions then please do not hesitate in writing to us. I will be happy to answer your questions.
MRI to be done in correlation with symptoms.
Detailed Answer:
Hi, I had gone through your question and understand your concerns.
X-ray shows only bone structures of your vertebral column and their alignment ( lucky there are no fractures or luxacion), but doesn't show any possible soft tissue traumatic damage, so if you continue to feel pain after two weeks of column injury (especially it was forceful impact) a vertebral column MRI should be done to evaluate soft tissue ( muscles, ligaments, nerves, blood vessels) damage.
In addition arthritis has been there from long time, so it is indispensable a evaluation of arthritis stage and vertebral column MRI is one of the imaging studies needed for this purpose, besides x-Rays.
In mean time you can use a Paracetamol-Codeine combination ( 500/30 mg if you are not allergic) to control the pain.
I suggest you to discuss with your treating Doctor the possibility of having vertebral column MRI done.
Hope this answers your question. If you have additional questions or follow up questions then please do not hesitate in writing to us. I will be happy to answer your questions.
Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Raju A.T
Thank you --- I'm sorry to be communicating with you during the Super Bowl Game, if you are an XXXXXXX NFL football fan! If there is some injury/damage that an MRI could indicate, what would it be and what would the treatment be?
Brief Answer:
Treatment depends on clinical and imaging findings
Detailed Answer:
Hi and thanks for asking back.
Like I said before, in my opinion MRI of your column is needed to evaluate if there is a recent traumatic damage of your column and soft tissue ( muscles, ligaments) contusion/ hematoma, stretched/ ruptured vertebral ligaments, pinched nerves.
MRI is needed too, to evaluate arthritis stage, ( intervertebral discs dessication/ degeneration/ protrusion , spinal cord narrowing/ stenosis, fascet ( vertebral articulations) hypertrophy/ degeneration, foraminal ( exit nerves foramina) narrowing, pinched nerves etc.
Besides MRI, a clinical and neurological evaluation is needed in order to correlate clinical findings with imaging findings and treatment is started after this process.
Hope this helps. Wishing you good health.
Treatment depends on clinical and imaging findings
Detailed Answer:
Hi and thanks for asking back.
Like I said before, in my opinion MRI of your column is needed to evaluate if there is a recent traumatic damage of your column and soft tissue ( muscles, ligaments) contusion/ hematoma, stretched/ ruptured vertebral ligaments, pinched nerves.
MRI is needed too, to evaluate arthritis stage, ( intervertebral discs dessication/ degeneration/ protrusion , spinal cord narrowing/ stenosis, fascet ( vertebral articulations) hypertrophy/ degeneration, foraminal ( exit nerves foramina) narrowing, pinched nerves etc.
Besides MRI, a clinical and neurological evaluation is needed in order to correlate clinical findings with imaging findings and treatment is started after this process.
Hope this helps. Wishing you good health.
Note: For further queries, consult a joint and bone specialist, an Orthopaedic surgeon. Book a Call now.
Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Prasad
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