Imaging/Diagnostics
At South Bend Orthopaedics, we offer a range of diagnostic services to help identify the specific nature of your musculoskeletal injury or condition. Whether you need an X-ray or MRI, you can get the test you need w
hen you need. This allows us to provide you with effective and comprehensive care. Your results are available when your doctor needs them, so you can begin your treatment as soon as possible.
It’s all part of our commitment to offering you progressive, high quality care – and the utmost in convenience.
Evaluation of pain requires a physician experienced in diagnosing conditions. The work-up begins with a detailed history and physical examination. Your medical history helps the doctor understand your pain and the influence of your lifestyle on your pain.
During your physical exam, your physician will try to pinpoint the source of pain. Simple tests for flexibility and muscle strength may also be conducted. Diagnostic tests may be ordered to confirm the location and source of your pain.
Diagnostics may include:
- X-rays technology is used for the examination of internal organs, bones, blood vessels, and the progression of diseases such as cancer. It can also detect infection, blockages and foreign objects.
- MRI This technique is effective in diagnosing cancer, strokes, nerve injury, brain or spinal cord injury, heart problems and abnormalities of the internal organs. It does not use radiation and therefore does not cause any radiation damage.
- CT scan/myelogram - Computerized tomography (CT scan) or Computer Axial Tomography (CAT) scan is an imaging procedure that uses an X-ray machine connected to a computer. The scan creates cross-sectional images or slices of the internal structures of the body. Sometimes, a contrast material or dye may also be injected into your arm or any other part of your body for a better view of a particular area. The internal structures are easily visible on the CT scan with the help of the dye.
- Electrodiagnostic - Electrodiagnostic medicine is a medical subspecialty of neuromuscular medicine that aids in diagnosis, evaluation, and treatment of neuromuscular, musculoskeletal, and nervous system disorders. Electrodiagnostic physicians record and analyze results from the patient’s history and physical examination along with test results obtained from conductance of electrical impulses between muscles and nerves. Electrodiagnostic medicine helps in evaluating the causes of numbness, tingling, discomfort, weakness, fatigue, and muscles cramps.
- Bone Scan - A bone scan is a diagnostic study that uses a traceable radioactive substance to view your bone structure. It is used to assess areas of damage, cancer, infection and trauma.
- Discography- Discography is performed under local anesthesia and takes less than an hour. You will lie face down on an operating table. Your back is marked in the region of the painful spinal discs. A guide needle is inserted under fluoroscopic imaging (live X-ray) until it reaches a disc. A smaller disc needle is passed through the guide needle to reach the center of the disc. Sterile liquid, such as X-ray dye, is then injected into the disc. This increases the pressure within the disc and may reproduce your pain symptoms. If the disc is not the source of your pain, you may either have no symptoms or unfamiliar symptoms. A group of discs may be tested one at a time to identify the pain source. Scans are obtained once each disc is pressurized.
