What does an ultrasound scan involve?
Ultrasound scans and X- rays are both performed at Central Chiropractic and Physiotherapy Clinic, being safe, painless and can be quick to perform.
Musculoskeletal Ultrasound is a type of medical imaging, which is being used instead of MRI (when indicated) for high performance athletes on professional and Olympic Teams, for injuries and other soft tissue conditions.
Diagnostic Ultrasound scans provide accurate diagnosis of musculo-skeletal injuries and conditions such as ligament and tendon inflammation, ruptures and tears, and bursitis -i.e. bursa inflammation, tendinitis, soft tissue injuries and adhesions, arthritis, crepitus, calcium spurs and fractures.
Ultrasound scan MSK £150 with report
Digital X-rays provide accurate diagnosis of Bone Fractures and certain conditions of the Cervical, Thoracic and Lumbar spine.
MRI is great because there is no radiation transferred to the patient and the doctor can see much more details in the soft tissues, muscle, tendon, and cartilage. It is also excellent for finding fractures missed on X-ray examination.
MRI machine are made of large magnets, which can present some issues. Patients with pacemakers, metal, and other implants cannot undergo MRI examination, but from a clinical standpoint it is hard to ignore how much detail can be found in MRI and it is a very valuable piece of imaging. Musculoskeletal Ultrasound is safe and can be done on anyone.
There is no radiation, no magnet and is commonly done on pregnant women… which demonstrates how safe it can be.
Musculoskeletal Ultrasound can have MORE detail than an MRI.
What are ultrasound scans used for?
Ultrasound scans help diagnose arthritis, bursitis, tendonitis, ligament and tendon tears and ruptures as well as soft tissue and sports injuries. Musculoskeletal ultrasound scans are also make part of many of our routine clinic examinations.
The advantage 0f Ultrasound Scans over X-rays are that tendons, muscles, fluid and the synovium (the lining of the joint) can be seen, whereas only the bones are visible on X-rays.
We can also use ultrasound scans to look at blood vessels, which can be useful for patients where blood vessel inflammation (‘vasculitis) is suspected. The procedure and equipment is similar to ultrasound scans of other parts of the body – for example the scans that pregnant mothers have to look at their baby.
A small amount of gel is used on the skin and a handheld device is used to look ‘inside’ the joint. We perform musculoskeletal ultrasound scans for conditions affecting Shoulder joint – i.e. tendon tears, effusion, frozen shoulder, biceps tendinitis, impingement syndrome, shoulder bursitis, rotator cuff tendinopathy, arthritis, and calcium spurs.