MRI for Joint Pain: How Imaging Can Help You Get the Right Treatment

Millions of people suffer from joint pain, and while arthritis is perhaps the most well-known cause, it’s just one of many underlying issues that can cause joint pain, stiffness, and dysfunction. 

Like any medical issue, joint pain requires the right treatment to find relief and to prevent further damage to the joint and the surrounding area. And that relies on getting the right diagnosis.

At Invision Sally Jobe, our team offers the most advanced diagnostic imaging exams, including magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) focused on identifying the cause of your joint pain. In this post, learn how MRI imaging can play a key role in diagnosing and managing your joint pain.

The ABCs of MRIs

When most people think of diagnostic imaging, they think of X-rays, and for good reason: X-rays have been used for more than a century to see inside the body without the need for invasive surgery. 

But while X-rays and their cousins, computed tomography (CT) scans, use radiation to obtain detailed images of specific parts of your anatomy, MRIs use powerful magnets and radio waves to produce their images. 

During an MRI scan, these powerful magnets create a magnetic field that causes the protons in your cells to line up a certain way. 

When the field is released, the protons move back to their original positions, and the MRI computer picks up these subtle movements and energy changes, translating them into images of your muscles, bones, and other structures and tissues.

In fact, the tiny energy changes produced during an MRI make it easier to examine soft tissues often involved in joint injuries — structures that are difficult to assess with other types of imaging. 

The ability to examine and assess soft tissues, like ligaments, nerves, tendons, and muscles, is a big reason these scans are ideal for diagnosing problems affecting your joints and the soft tissues that surround them.

Beyond initial diagnosis

While MRIs are important for providing that initial diagnosis of joint damage and dysfunction, they’re also great at monitoring treatment. For instance, if your joint pain hasn’t responded well to medication, physical therapy, and other first-line treatments, an MRI may be able to determine why.

In part, that’s because MRIs are good at pinpointing and evaluating inflammation, a common side effect associated with many different types of joint issues. Inflammation is a natural part of healing, but when it comes to inflammatory effects, you can have too much of a good thing.

MRIs are able to obtain clear images of soft tissues, pinpointing where inflammation is occurring so your provider can target your therapy to your specific needs. And because they provide so much detail, they’re also ideal at identifying subtle problems that may not show up on an X-ray.

That’s why even though you may have already had an X-ray for your initial diagnosis, your provider may order an MRI if your treatment isn’t working or if you need more targeted or intensive therapy for long-term, meaningful relief.

Find a solution for your joint pain

Joint pain can be stubborn, and without proper treatment, even simple activities can be extremely painful. Delaying appropriate care can lead to ongoing joint damage and worsening joint function.

An MRI gets to the root cause of joint pain while monitoring therapy to help ensure optimal recovery. To learn more about MRIs and to schedule your scan, request an appointment with our team at Invision Sally Jobe in Aurora, Greenwood Village, Golden, Littleton, Lone Tree, Parker or Denver, Colorado, today.