Good morning, my name is Dr. Alex Hernandez, Chiropractor here in North Bergen from Life Chiropractic and Acupuncture. Today I want to help you with the decision of "when to get an x-ray". Then, in my next segment we’re going to talk about "when you need an MRI".
At our Chiropractor's office we do routine x-rays for the spine, from the neck to the low back. Questions that are asked are "why do we take an x-ray?" and, "when is it necessary?" We take an x-ray when we feel that your spine, anywhere from your neck to your low back, may be out of alignment. I
Not everybody needs an x-ray, but in general if you’re having some sort of back pain, we want to check in; if you’re having some sort of neck pain, we want to check in and see what is going on with your spine, what is going on with your neck. There could be 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 segments out of alignment that are causing you pain. It’s important not to guess, not to assume we know what’s going on. We want to make sure that we get the appropriate diagnosis so we can create the appropriate treatment plan. For these reasons we use x-rays.
In our office we take digital x-rays. What does that mean? It’s a fancy term for x-rays that are high definition and we can actually manipulate the images -- we can make them brighter, we can make them darker. Here is an example of what we’re talking about.
In the video you see a normal spine. You can see the x-ray quality is very, very high. We see the ribs, we see all the low back bones, we see the hips, we can even see the gases going through the intestines. So I can take this image and basically manipulate it. I can look at it and contrast it and it shows me a different view. I can change the quality of it, and again I can make it lighter and darker. I can zoom in on the images and then zoom out so I can really look at all of the details as to what’s going on with your spine so that you can get the proper treatment.
An x-ray is a very valuable tool that will help us to understand what is in alignment, what is not in alignment, and then what we need to do in order to put your spine back to normal.
How long does it take to get an x-ray? Two x-rays for your low back take less than 10 seconds. For more information, contact us
