 Hi, I am Dr Vidyadarayesh, Head of the Department and Concert and Spine Surgeon at Manipal Hospital, Bangalore. This is a very appropriate question in today's world where in a lot of people Google before they go to a doctor, they already know that they need to get an MRI which is not true in every case. You know first, I always have this victim that first three weeks you don't need anything other than patient waiting. If things don't get better, I think you need to see a doctor and if you request you please get an X-ray done. And also nowadays a lot of IT professionals are suffering from this easy fitigability, low energy levels and tiredness feelings towards the end of the day which may suggest about the vitamin D3 or vitamin B12 deficiency and then you need to do some blood tests to diagnose that and then get treated accordingly and if after 6 weeks to 12 weeks that is 3 months if things don't get better and if you are still suffering I think you will have to get the gold standard investigation of choice for final problems that is MRI. MRI is a double H4, it does good because it picks up small little things that are seen on the in the body. But the good thing is it shows it so clearly that you can plan your treatment very specifically to the problem. Now if you should always listen to the doctor once your MRI is done because lot of reports findings are not the cause of your back pain. It may be one problem which is the cause of your back pain and it can easily be treated even without surgery. Let me tell you that it is less than 1% of people with back pain that needs surgery and if you patiently wait for 3 months almost all patients get better without doctors, without medicines, without physical therapy. But we are in a hurry and we have too many options that is what is falling for today.