Adverse Neural Tension: A Poorly Understood Pain Generator

A patient recently asked me “Why does my arm feel like it is on fire and with pins and needles while my MRI does not show any compression of the nerve?” This is a great question and one that many people can echo. While it has been reported that 92% of adults have disc herniations apparent on MRI, less than 40% of those people have  symptoms (pain, numbness, tingling, weakness). What does this mean for us? There are two take away messages from this information. The first, more important message, is not to “treat the MRI” rather to treat the patients’ symptoms.