An MRI is important because it can sometimes show injuries that an X-ray wouldn’t pick up. Basically, X-rays will show the bone and whether it is fractured or broken. An MRI can show injuries to the soft tissues around the bone in addition to the bone itself. Sometimes a patient will get an X-ray in an ER or emergency room that shows nothing. They can be discharged but still experience pain. Later, when they get an MRI they learn that there was some other injury to a ligament or a disc bulge in the spine that didn’t show up on the X-ray. Typically I like to have my clients undergo an MRI if they have ongoing pains so I can have a complete diagnosis and fully present their case to a jury or defense insurance company.
