Twenty years of ‘insanity’ in diagnosing underlying clinically relevant cervical dysfunction using traditional MRI

It has been said that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, while expecting a different result. Studies dating back several decades [e.g., the article by Boden et al. (1)] have failed to show strong correlation between abnormal magnetic-resonance scans of the intervertebral discs and clinical symptoms. Nonetheless, as a group, we keep trying to make the connection, both in the clinic and in the lab.