[Noah930]

You ask a good question, Craig. (One that doesn't get asked too often in our society.) What's the point of the test? What are we trying to answer? What will it tell us that we don't already know? How will the possible findings affect our management of the problem?

The x-rays only really show bone. We can make inferences on soft tissue (which is pretty much everything that isn't bone, such as connective tissue/ligaments/muscles/tendons/nerve/etc) based upon the positioning of the bone. But an x-ray can't really show you the soft tissue, itself. The x-ray is a shadow of what your bones look like.

The MRI does a much better job of soft tissue imaging. It'll let you see exactly where the connective tissue and nerves are located, particularly relative to the bone. If a nerve is being pinched thereby causing your pain, for example, the MRI can show that. That can help your physician(s) make management decisions.

In a real-world, considering who's paying for this (you), part of your question is: Is there anything that you'll find on the MRI that would make you change anything? Is the pain bad enough that you'd have another surgery? After all, regardless of what the MRI shows, you're treating you--not the MRI. If the MRI looks horrible but you don't feel horrible, are you really going to go through another surgery? Or is the MRI just to follow-up and see if there's been any change over the past year? That's something you'll have to figure out with your physician.