MRI - Nerve Pinching
Even if you do have leg pain/numbness/ tingling (with or without your back pain), and it shows up on MRI as due to disc herniation, pinching a nerve that corresponds to your symptoms, it is most likely to resolve within a few weeks, or at most, months, many times even without exercise therapy.
Most cases of disc herniation reabsorb or decrease by 8 weeks after onset of symptoms. More than 3/4ths decrease or fully resolve by 1 year. There may or may not be corresponding symptom improvement.
significant decrease in size of disc herniation 4 months later
Spondylolisthesis- from mild to severe
Spondylolisthesis from fracture behind
Disc Herniations causing spinal canal narrowing (stenosis)
References:
C.C. Chiu, T.Y. Chuang, K.H. Chang, C.H. Wu, P.W. Lin, W.Y. HsuThe probability of spontaneous regression of lumbar herniated disc: a systematic review. Clin Rehabil, 29 (2015), pp. 184-195
N. Cowan, K. Bush, D. Katz, et al.The natural history of sciatica: a prospective radiological study. Clin Radiol, 46 (1992), pp. 7-12
Kushchayev SV, Glushko T, Jarraya M, et al. ABCs of the degenerative spine. Insights Imaging. 2018;9(2):253–274. doi:10.1007/s13244-017-0584-z
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