Fair question! This is something we hear so often while performing an MSK ultrasound.
Ultrasound is a very useful adjunct to the clinical exam done by your physician. When used together with an x-ray, which may or may not be ordered alongside an ultrasound, it can aid in putting the pieces of a puzzle together to facilitate further management. What does this mean? This means that there is the potential to ascertain more information for your physician, and ultimately guide the decisions used to structure your care. This has implications for pain management, intervention, and/or rehabilitation.
Why not just use MRI? Isn’t it the ‘gold standard’?
Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) definitely has its advantages, which we won’t get into here, but it cannot always be done in a timely manner. This can be a huge obstacle to care. One advantage of ultrasound is that it can often be booked sooner than an MRI. This is so important when you are in pain now!
Another significant advantage of ultrasound is that it can be done with dynamic movement, physical palpation correlation and, if warranted, a comparison to the asymptomatic side. This results in an accurate diagnostic assessment.
Finally, any patient can undergo an ultrasound without having to worry about contraindications such as having a pacemaker, a metal implant, or contending with claustrophobia.
Of course, there are limitations to ultrasound when used for any purpose, but we’ll touch on some of the key MSK related limitations.
- Ultrasound is unable to image deep into joints or beyond a bony cortex. Without getting too much into the physics of it, ultrasound uses sound waves to display an image on the screen (which is pretty cool, if you ask us!). Sound waves can only penetrate so far before they are impeded either by the depth of a structure or the high reflection of a structure, such as in the case of bone. Sound waves cannot travel through bone but are reflected by the strong interface. For example, we can’t see behind a knee joint, through the ribs, or deep into the shoulder joint. However, we can see the structures overlying bone such as the tendons, ligaments, synovial lining, etc.
- MSK ultrasound is highly operator dependent, so competency based training, high quality mentoring, and peer support are imperative for success and accuracy!
- Performing MSK ultrasound requires the ability to place the structural findings within the clinical context. This means that as we age our bodies may show normal signs of ‘wear and tear’. So, a finding that may be more significant in a 20-30 year old, may not be of clinical or surgical significance in an asymptomatic patient, or one who is 70-80 years old.
This brings us to another one of the MANY benefits of MSK ultrasound. At Beam, we will ask you questions and adjust the exam accordingly for your benefit when our team deems it necessary and appropriate. It really is such a dynamic examination with collaboration between the patient, technologist, and the radiologist. It is just one of the reasons why we love it!
Beam offers an MSK ultrasound exam that is performed and interpreted by professionals who are passionate about their field of medicine, and who are constantly striving to provide the very best care for our patients. Book your appointment for an appointment for an MSK ultrasound by calling our clinic booking line: 587-885-2988
