Here’s What A Physiotherapist Wants You To Do About Your Back Pain

If nothing is relieving the pain in the short-term, you might be inclined to ask for an MRI scan – but Finucane says this isn’t always necessary, and can sometimes increase stress, as well as the amount of pain you’re in, because your muscles may become more tense. The scans can flag up things that sound worrying but are not relevant to the back pain, she says. “Everyone, as they get older, will have the equivalent of grey hairs on an MRI scan, it’s part of the normal ageing process, so we like to ‘treat the man not the scan’.”