Access to Hampshire's highest quality diagnostic imaging

Diagnostic tools and imaging has advanced rapidly in medicine. We often see reported that athletes who have suffered injury are going straight for a scan and I have seen the amount of patients asking me directly for a scan go up exponentially in the last few years. So in setting up Vida Physio in Romsey it was important to me I had a link with a trusted service. I am delighted to say I have established that with a private hospital group in Winchester who have some of the very best facilities in the area and service some of the south's elite sports teams.

In this blog I will shed some light on why a scan may be advised and what the different types of diagnostic imaging are recommended for.

Why have a diagnostic image?

• First and foremost they can help us with confirming diagnosis. It is always best to have seen a health professional prior to a scan. Our referral helps to give the radiography team an idea on what structures we feel should be looked at in detail.

  
  

• Scans also help us rule out pathologies, if we are fairly certain on a diagnosis and treatment plan but want to be sure we aren't missing something that could significantly alter how we would treat, then a scan can be advised.

  
  

• The key reason most athletes get a scan is to check the severity of injury. Injuries have different grades and that will affect the prognosis of how long recovery will take. For a athlete or team the key factor they want to know is how long will the athlete need to recover and imaging can help indicate that.

The main imaging as Physiotherapists we would refer for are X-Rays, Ultrasound or MRI scans and they all offer a slightly differing view.

X-Ray

Probably the most well known image and most of us will of had one at some point. In musculoskeletal medicine an X-Ray shows the bone anatomy and helps to diagnosis conditions such as fractures, stress fractures, bone abnormalities or help us grade bony conditions such as the severity of Osteoarthritis. It doesn't show soft tissues (muscles, tendons, ligaments very well.

X-ray image of a shoulder that has seen better days!

Ultrasound

Most of us think pregnancy scan when we think Ultrasound scanning, which it is still used for. But we also utilise Ultrasound for scanning soft tissue injuries if they are superficial (close to the surface). It can be excellent for looking at tendons such as around the shoulder or elbow or a muscle injury in an easily identifiable location. Ultrasound on the spine, knee and hips has its limitations and if an area is very inflamed it can be hard to get quality imaging.

MRI Scan

MRI scanning is the most comprehensive of the scans we can refer for. It takes the longest amount of time and some patients may not love the experience as you have to stay very still in a small space for around 45 minutes but gives us the highest quality images. MRI images show us the tissues section by section at every level including very deep structures. We can assess bones, ligaments, tendons, cartilage, fascia and muscles. The unit I have set up a partnership with has a 3 Tesla (measurement of magnetism) scanner which is one of the most advanced MRI scans available.

There is also an MRI Arthrogram which is for certain hard to see structures, this involves injecting a small amount of dye prior to your scan to show up the area trying to be seen.

MRI Scanner

I will always discuss with you openly if I feel a scan should be considered and explain the reasons why we would want one. I also appreciate that some patients would like a scan for peace of mind even if I don't feel one is completely necessary. It is only going to give us more information which is not a bad thing.

What is really important is we don't just treat off of a scan. We use the information from a scan to pair with the patient presenting in front of us. Scans are a snapshot at the time they were taken, by listening to you and your history of the injury we can learn much more than an image can sometimes show us. The two together can then work very well.

Hopefully that helps you understand imaging a little more and how it helps to inform us what treatments are best for your injury.

Tom