22 - Exploring the Complex Puzzle of Back Pain: Why MRIs Aren’t Always Enough and What Comes Next with Dr. Patrick Roth

In this episode of The Med-Legal Greenroom, your host Sam Frentzas interviews Dr. Patrick Roth, Founder of New Jersey Brain and Spine, about back pain diagnosis and treatment.Dr. Roth explains that MRI, while useful for nerve compression, definitively diagnoses back pain in only 50% of cases. He highlights additional tools like SPECT scans and flexion-extension X-rays for better accuracy. Dr. Roth introduces a three-tier pain framework covering the pain generator, bodily adaptations, and the brain's role. He emphasizes thorough patient evaluation, warns against specialty-driven treatment bias, and sees AI as a promising future tool for guiding patients toward appropriate care.Check out Dr. Patrick Roth's work HERE.Connect with Dr. Roth on LinkedIn HERE. Think you'd be a great guest on the show? Apply HERE.Book a VMA demo HERE.For the first 10 listeners who direct message Dr. Roth, they will be sent a copy of Dr. Roth’s books:Flourishing: The Ultimate Career Capital (submitting 2026) Managing Back Pain For Dummies (Wiley 2025)The Me in Medicine (Changing Lives 2018)The End of Back Pain (HarperCollins 2014)