MRI shows nothing untoward

scottduffy

scottduffy

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Guys I had a wee fall a few weeks back and instantly my back was very painful. This soon eased and the next day my knees were very painful instead. I went back to work and tried to get on with it but after three days I went to A&E when I couldn't get a GP appointment. The doctor I saw initially said she would put me in a knee brace and see me back at the soft tissue clinic then another doctor came along and gave me knee exercises instead and discharged me. Two weeks later and still in enough pain to stop me sleeping I went to my GP who sent me back to A&E who sent me for an MRI scan. This took nearly two weeks to get an appointment and a further week for the results.

Yesterday I called for them and the have said the scan shows nothing untoward. I honestly have no idea what to do next. I'm waiting a week for my next GP appointment and she said chances are she'll refer me to physio which takes 6 months.

My question is maybe a dumb one but what exactly does the MRI show? Does it cover ligaments, tendons etc? I can't believe it showed nothing given the levels of discomfort I'm in 6-7 weeks after in accident.
 
MRI shows nerves, muscle and bone. As well as water, fat, other liquids etc.

Don’t mean to be a downer, but I’ve been in constant pain for over 10 years and and at least 6 MRI’s and they’ve never found anything “untoward”
 
scottduffy said:
My question is maybe a dumb one but what exactly does the MRI show? Does it cover ligaments, tendons etc? I can't believe it showed nothing given the levels of discomfort I'm in 6-7 weeks after in accident.
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Not a dumb question, but it does depend on what your doctor orders. Not every scan looks for, or will show the same things
 
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TCR4x4 said:
MRI shows nerves, muscle and bone. As well as water, fat, other liquids etc.

Don’t mean to be a downer, but I’ve been in constant pain for over 10 years and and at least 6 MRI’s and they’ve never found anything “untoward”
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I honestly never expected it to nothing untoward. I'm still stunned.

That is a bummer for you buddy. Do you receive any treatment? Physio or pain medication?

I can't imagine just plodding on like this as every couple of hours or so I'll turn and my knee gives way and it's very painful. I did I school portrait shoot the other day which was the first I've done since I hurt myself and the next day I could barely stand. I put it down to the fact I knelt down for a few minutes during it.
 
Nope, nothing. I was explicitly told they wouldn’t prescribe any pain killers as there was no evidence anything was wrong. Despite having major spinal surgery in 2011 and being diagnosed with fibromyalgia in 2015.
 
To all that have suffered with joint pain you have my empathy.

To date I have not had the levels you guys are talking about.......................re MRI. I have had two that related to head and cervical spine and the most that gets reported is that the changes are age related degeneration ~ I do not recall the phrase "nothing untoward" being used (the MRI was not done specifically for that reason)

I have had knee 'issues' since I was about 20yo (karate and rock climbing did my knees no good at all :( ) I am now 64yo.

To date they have not been so bad either pain wise or movement wise but as I have gotten older (approx past 10 years) I have experienced more discomfort. I was refered to an ESP (Extended Scope Practitioner) who made the examination and agreed there were issues. I suggested/asked for an MRI or other such to take a baseline of 'how they are now.....' so that when/if it becomes necessary to treat the problem more aggressively they will be able to see the difference and that might affect the treatment.

He ever so nicely explained that they did not do that as it was too costly. I asked what would qualify doing an MRI..............basically he said when I have chronic joint pain then get the GP to refer you for an MRI and hence treatment plan!!!

@scottduffy Scott, I hope you get treatment & comfort and get well soon :)
 
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Box Brownie said:
To all that have suffered with joint pain you have my empathy.

To date I have not had the levels you guys are talking about.......................re MRI. I have had two that related to head and cervical spine and the most that gets reported is that the changes are age related degeneration ~ I do not recall the phrase "nothing untoward" being used (the MRI was not done specifically for that reason)

I have had knee 'issues' since I was about 20yo (karate and rock climbing did my knees no good at all :( ) I am now 64yo.

To date they have not been so bad either pain wise or movement wise but as I have gotten older (approx past 10 years) I have experienced more discomfort. I was refered to an ESP (Extended Scope Practitioner) who made the examination and agreed there were issues. I suggested/asked for an MRI or other such to take a baseline of 'how they are now.....' so that when/if it becomes necessary to treat the problem more aggressively they will be able to see the difference and that might affect the treatment.

He ever so nicely explained that they did not do that as it was too costly. I asked what would qualify doing an MRI..............basically he said when I have chronic joint pain then get the GP to refer you for an MRI and hence treatment plan!!!

@scottduffy Scott, I hope you get treatment & comfort and get well soon :)
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Thanks mate. I have played football all my life and never had any issues with my knees until this little fall. Totally innocuous and I am almost embarrassed that it's caused this much bother. Hopefully it'll pass by itself I just hate being incapacitated. I've a 7 year old son who until recently I played football with for roughly two hours every day after school and he's feeling this as much as me. Bloody annoying not being able to have a kick about.
 
Back in the early 80's I suffered a serious back injury that lead to years of pain and the NHS was unfortunately and frustratingly next to useless and it wasn't until I got my money out that things improved, quickly and dramatically so.

Scott, in your place I'd look to go private as it doesn't necessarily mean crippling costs and will possibly mean you'll see good specialists PDQ. Look into it and find out how much it'll cost and then make a decision. In my case the options were very quickly made clear after a trip to see the specialist and a few visits to the physio. My options were potentially risky surgery or live with and manage it. I went for the second option and have now lived with the injury for over 35 years and have a mostly normal and indeed active life.

Good luck going forward, I hope you can make a full recovery or at least end up like me, managing it and having few real issues.
 
MRI's like any diagnostic aid are not 100%
 
woof woof said:
Back in the early 80's I suffered a serious back injury that lead to years of pain and the NHS was unfortunately and frustratingly next to useless and it wasn't until I got my money out that things improved, quickly and dramatically so.

Scott, in your place I'd look to go private as it doesn't necessarily mean crippling costs and will possibly mean you'll see good specialists PDQ. Look into it and find out how much it'll cost and then make a decision. In my case the options were very quickly made clear after a trip to see the specialist and a few visits to the physio. My options were potentially risky surgery or live with and manage it. I went for the second option and have now lived with the injury for over 35 years and have a mostly normal and indeed active life.

Good luck going forward, I hope you can make a full recovery or at least end up like me, managing it and having few real issues.
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I was discussing speaking to a private hospital with my wife last night but I think I'll give it a couple of weeks to see how I go.

I can't believe you've lived with chronic pain for 35 years. Jeez that's rough.
 
I went from being in constant overwhelming pain to mostly functioning but having an episode which would put me out of action and off work three or four times a year to now being mostly free from it. I get a bit stiff sometimes if I've been doing the gardening etc and I get a few headaches but really all I need to be now is as careful as we all should be as long as I can do my physio which I incorporated into my own exercise routine which I do at least five times a week. I've now lived with this longer than I've lived without it and actually one bonus is the toned body and six pack that a lot of people long for :D

If things don't progress quickly enough with the NHS the option of asking to be referred privately is there and I bet it doesn't cost as much as you'd think.

Good luck with it.
 
Considering I paid £280 for one private MRI scan and £90 for one x Ray , I’d hate to think how much anything else would cost private.

I looked up how much my spinal surgery would have cost privately, and I couldn’t find the exact procedure I had, but the far less complicated and time consuming discetomy surgery was touted at around £30k

I had two disecectomies, a bone graft and a titanium pedical screw rod fixation cage installed... wouldn’t suprise me if it’s £50k plus.. who the hell can afford that?
 
TCR4x4 said:
Considering I paid £280 for one private MRI scan and £90 for one x Ray , I’d hate to think how much anything else would cost private.

I looked up how much my spinal surgery would have cost privately, and I couldn’t find the exact procedure I had, but the far less complicated and time consuming discetomy surgery was touted at around £30k

I had two disecectomies, a bone graft and a titanium pedical screw rod fixation cage installed... wouldn’t suprise me if it’s £50k plus.. who the hell can afford that?
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I'm assuming most of these costs for the average private patient will be included in some sort of health insurance.

Just a wee update though. I got my letter in from the hospital just now and the scan showed straining of the ligaments in both knees and the consultant has said that this will continue to resolve itself but could take a number of weeks.

I am actually quite relieved it shows this. I know this is silly but it puts my mind to rest thinking it could be something else. Considering it was a while ago the accident happened and I tried to continue working I've probably aggravated it more than I needed to.
 
Not very helpful if you don’t have health insurance though. You can’t get it after having a surgery or pre existing condition either.

Glad to hear you got some relatively good news.
 
TCR4x4 said:
Not very helpful if you don’t have health insurance though. You can’t get it after having a surgery or pre existing condition either.

Glad to hear you got some relatively good news.
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Very true. Pay for it whilst you're relatively healthy or pay the price. Not a great choice.
 
To repair tendon and ligament damage it will take time, time, and more time. I had a total knee replacement 7 months ago and as I sit here writing this I'm still in far more pain than I ever was with my original knee although physio and Xray show everything is fine. Many years ago I pulled my thumb back doing a parachute jump the doctor said nothing but time for it to repair. After 6 months the pain was that bad l asked if having it amputated was an option obviously they refused and it took a further 18 months to mend.
 
Had knee pain for around 15 years now. 10 years of Thai boxing has taken its toll I’m told however I had no issues until 1 day I knelt down on my lounge carpet and a terrible pain shot through my knee up into my thigh so makes me think something else happened. I have private health care so going to get a proper check after Christmas.
 
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