MRI & CT scans - does the body's position effect results?

I have wondered for a long time how doctors can make a diagnosis from looking at an MRI, or sometimes a CT scan of a person in a single position. I know, and have experienced, extreme pain when I was in certain positions, such as bending over and even sitting, and the only relief I would get would be lying down. When I had an MRI of the area (lower back) it was while I was lying down and they found 3 discs with extreme protrusion into the spinal canal and 2 others with moderate. Because the pain was radiating from areas that weren't "severe" another MRI was ordered and I requested one where I was vertical, in a sitting position, and the results showed basically the same in the 3 bad discs but the 2 that were "moderate" were just as bad as the other 3, but this wouldn't have shown up had I not asked to have an MRI in a different position.

Now what I find odd is that I had been to probably 5-8 doctors over 5 years about this issue and had many MRI's before that and not once did they ever mention that being in a different position could reveal different conditions until I was at the vertical MRI location and they told me that they often find things (related to my injury) that other MRI's don't see, because of the compression due to body weight, muscle tension, etc all acts upon the body differently than when lying down.

Now as a non-medical professional, I am extremely tired of having to do my own research and feeling like I have to become a "lay-expert" (or internet expert....) in the various conditions that I have and I have seen the same thing with many other people close to me where I can't believe that certain things have or haven't been done or suggested and those close to me don't seem to be willing to look into their condition and trust in what the doctor says.

When it comes to medical issues, I think everyone should expect the highest degree of care and there should be a way for them to find out all the information related to their condition easily and be able to cross reference information with other providers or medical establishments.

I had an X-ray technician try to line up my back so it would be perfectly straight and he even pulled down on my legs to straighten the backbone out. Now, he wanted a perfect picture, but that does not show what it is supposed to show. I mentioned this to the doctor, the doctor shook his head and sent me back for x-rays again, in a natural position. The second x-rays showed clearly things were not lined up and that there was a disk protuding a bit. It just meant I had to go to a special therapist that actually looked at the X-rays and pulled and pushed on things more like a chiropractor does. It went back into place within a couple of sessions. But I still had to go back for the six.

From talking to doctors and X-ray technicians over the years, I found that there is some chance of error with these tests, usually the error shows no damage when there is some. The damage does not always show up or in the old catscans, the guy used to choose slices to send to the guy reading them. Now it is digital and the one reading them just accesses the information online to do his evaluation, he can look at the whole picture, not just slices printed out like they used to do.

I tend to ask a lot of questions when it comes to cool equipment and therapies.

a reply to: DigginFoTroof

Now as a non-medical professional, I am extremely tired of having to do my own research and feeling like I have to become a "lay-expert" (or internet expert....) in the various conditions that I have

We pay them obscene amounts of money *why*??? I've been down the same damn road.

It is indeed tiring.

originally posted by: wylekat
a reply to: DigginFoTroof

Now as a non-medical professional, I am extremely tired of having to do my own research and feeling like I have to become a "lay-expert" (or internet expert....) in the various conditions that I have

We pay them obscene amounts of money *why*??? I've been down the same damn road.

It is indeed tiring.

It is pretty hard for a doctor to make a good diagnosis in a fifteen minute appointment. Some also make up their minds before even coming into the room to see the patients and look in the wrong direction. Just because someone had a similar event last week does not mean it is the same, but ill gotten beliefs cloud judgements of people all the time, even professionals.

Nerves are very sensitive to pressure. Just a teeny-tiny bit of pressure from something just a few millimeters out of place will cause pain. That could be anything from bones, discs, pressure from a swollen lymphatic node or muscle.

MRI scanners have software that can differentiate between bone, muscle, blood vessels, skin and other organs simply through different densities. But they have to get the picture taken at the right time.

So do many of you agree that an MRI could show different results depending upon how the body is positioned? If a person doesn't have pain lying down but extreme pain while bending over (and sitting to a lesser degree), does it not make sense that those positions might be putting more pressure on the injured part while in a different position? The fact that most of the doctors I talked to said they hadn't thought of that kind of blew my mind and there are a number of other similar medical situations where issues are related to position or other "trigger" and the doc's don't seem to think examining with the trigger in place makes a difference. It really made me question the procedure of many of the tests done.

a reply to: rickymouse

We need healthcare redesigned from the ground up. The whole process needs to be overhauled.

originally posted by: wylekat
a reply to: rickymouse

We need healthcare redesigned from the ground up. The whole process needs to be overhauled.

Yes.