An accident, physical trauma, or disease can cause sudden or ongoing pain. Imaging helps us locate the cause of your pain and determine how bad it is.

Reasons an injury or pain may need imaging include:

• To find the cause of the ongoing back and neck pain
• Examine swollen and painful joints
• Diagnose sports injuries, like an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) tear
• If you’ve had a potential head injury
• To examine a lump, like a cyst or an infected abscess
• During emergency care for traumatic injuries like broken bones

The types of imaging we use to diagnose pain and injuries include:

• X-rays: Radiation creates images of the body’s bones and some soft tissues. We commonly use it to check for fractures. An imaging method called fluoroscopy uses a special dye to take X-rays in real-time.
• Computed tomography (CT) scans: This type of scan uses X-rays and a computer to make detailed cross-sectional images. In an emergency, a CT can quickly find injury, trauma, or internal bleeding.
• Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI): This scan uses magnets and radio waves to create detailed images without radiation. The MRI images let us see detailed pictures of organs like the brain, colon, heart, liver, bones, and spine.
• Ultrasound: This test uses high-frequency sound waves to create real-time images of organs and tissues. It gives a better view of soft tissues than X-rays, and a Doppler ultrasound can assess blood flow. We often use it to find the source of pain or swelling and to help guide needles for biopsy, treatment, or pain relief.

Once we know what’s causing your pain, we can create a care plan to help relieve it. That may include procedures that use imaging to guide the repair of damaged tissues or deliver pain relief.

When you’re dealing with chronic pain from an injury or arthritis, your doctor may discuss giving you medicine through a needle to relieve the pain. In other cases, like disc issues causing back or neck pain, you may need a procedure to repair your spine.

Doctors will use precise image guidance to ensure accuracy. Using imaging tools to guide procedures can also make them less invasive. Imaging tools include fluoroscopy, CT scans, ultrasound, or MRI, depending on the part of the body and the procedure.

Doctors often use imaging when giving shots to put the pain medicine right into the affected joint.

We often do steroid injections with image guidance to ensure precise injection into joints, muscles, or nerves to reduce swelling and pain.

They include:

• Epidural: Steroids in the spine can treat back or leg pain, such as sciatica.
• Facet joint: Injections in the small joints of the spine can relieve pain from arthritis or injury. The facet joints are small and deep; without imaging, placing the needle safely and effectively would be hard.
• Sacroiliac (SI) joint: We can ease pain in the lower back or pelvis by targeting the SI joints. The SI joint is large but surrounded by thick ligaments, and it can be hard to access without imaging.
• Nerve blocks: These temporarily turn off pain signals by numbing specific nerves. Imaging makes sure the doctor can access the right nerve.

Other imaging-guided injections include shots that deliver your body’s healing cells to help repair damaged tissue. These are platelet-rich plasma or stem cell injections. We often guide these injections using imaging tools. We use them for joint, tendon and soft tissue injuries, and some spine issues.

Other image-guided procedures

We often use imaging during surgery or procedures to make smaller cuts or better target the treatment.

• Focused ultrasound: Focused ultrasound uses sound waves to reduce pain. We use it for bone pain and fibroids. Imaging guidance helps accurately target the sound waves. It can also treat essential tremor.
• Ablation: This treatment uses heat (radiofrequency) or cold (cryoablation). It kills nerves in the back, neck, or joints to stop them from sending pain signals. Imaging helps doctors target the right nerve, monitor the freezing process, and protect nearby healthy tissue.
• Spine surgery: We often use imaging during minimally invasive spine surgery. It helps doctors make accurate cuts and deliver medicines or surgical tools to the right spots.

We work with specialists in all areas of healthcare to get you the best care for your pain, whether sudden or chronic. Together, we suggest the best imaging tests and procedures for your situation. In emergencies, imaging is integral to care for traumatic injuries and illnesses.

We know the idea of getting imaging can cause anxiety in some people. Your care team will review how to prepare for and what to expect from any imaging you may need. For enclosed CT and MRI scans, we may be able to prescribe medicine to help you relax if you have anxiety when in tight spaces.