Your shoulder hurts when you reach overhead.
Your Achilles tendon is painful when you walk.
Your elbow hurts every time you pick something up.
And perhaps you've been wondering:
Do I need an MRI to find out what's wrong?
Sometimes you may.
But when a tendon is suspected, musculoskeletal ultrasound may be an appropriate place to start.
Tendons connect muscles to bones, helping your body move.
So why look at them only while they’re still?
One of the advantages of musculoskeletal ultrasound is that we can examine many tendons in real time and during movement.
We can watch a tendon glide, look for areas of thickening or abnormality, and evaluate the surrounding tissues.
When appropriate, we can also ask you to perform the movement that causes your symptoms while we watch what happens beneath the skin.
At the heart of the Jablon Protocol is something technology can’t replace—the human connection. We listen, examine, and observe how your body moves and where it hurts before ever picking up the probe. The ultrasound then becomes an extension of that examination, allowing us to see in real time what the clinical evaluation has already begun to uncover.
This is referred to as the Jablon Protocol.
Where does it hurt? What movement causes the pain? Did it begin suddenly, or has it gradually become worse?
Your answers help guide the examination so we can focus on the structures most likely to be involved.
Depending on the tendon and location, musculoskeletal ultrasound may help identify changes such as tendon thickening or degeneration, inflammation around the tendon, fluid, and partial or complete tears.
It may also reveal problems that become more apparent when the tendon moves.
And because the examination is performed in real time, we can compare what we see with where you hurt and what movement causes your symptoms.
MSK ultrasound is safe, noninvasive, and uses no radiation.
MRI is an important imaging tool, and there are situations in which it may be the better examination or may be needed after ultrasound.
The goal is to choose the right imaging tool for the question we're trying to answer.
For many superficial tendon problems, MSK ultrasound can provide valuable information quickly while also allowing us to evaluate the tendon dynamically.
If your pain seems to be coming from a tendon, there may be another option worth considering.
Could MSK ultrasound give us the information we need first?
Sometimes the best way to understand a structure designed to move is to watch it move.
To learn whether musculoskeletal ultrasound may be appropriate for your symptoms, contact us at 949-229-7377.
Orthopedic Ultrasound, Inc.
Center for Musculoskeletal Ultrasound
