MRI findings are more common in selected patients with acute low back pain than controls?

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to investigate if lumbar disc pathology identified on MRI scans is more common in patients with acute, likely discogenic, low back pain than matched controls.

Methods: We compared rates of MRI findings between 30 cases with low back pain and 30 pain-free controls. Cases were patients presenting for care with likely discogenic low back pain (demonstrated centralisation with repeated movement testing), of moderate intensity and with minimal past history of back pain.