Interactive · Patient Education
Understand Your Lumbar MRI
Your MRI report is written for doctors. This page is written for you — click any numbered point on the scan to learn what that structure is and why it matters.
Educational images and labels — not a diagnosis, and not your scan. Bring your actual MRI to your visit and Dr. Hobbs will walk through it with you.
How to read the view
Axial = looking down
A cross-section slice, as if looking down through your body from above. Great for seeing the canal, nerves, and disc at one level.
Sagittal = from the side
A side view showing the whole lumbar spine at once — disc heights, alignment, and the spinal canal top to bottom.
Bright means water
On these T2 images, fluid glows white. Healthy discs look brighter; worn discs turn dark. The fluid around your nerves is the bright stripe.
Want yours explained, image by image?
Walking patients through their own MRI is part of every consultation.