What Is Maximum Medical Improvement in an Injury Case?
In a personal injury case, one of the most important medical milestones is what doctors call Maximum Medical Improvement — often shortened to MMI. MMI does not mean that you are fully healed or that your pain is gone. It means that your doctors believe the injury has improved as much as modern medicine reasonably expects it to improve. In other words, additional treatment is unlikely to create a meaningful change in your outcome.
This is not the same as being “back to normal.” Someone can absolutely still be hurting — still have limitations — and still be at MMI.
MMI and Conservative Care (Chiropractic, Therapy, etc.)
Most patients begin their treatment with conservative and non-invasive methods. This often means chiropractic care, physical therapy, home exercise routines, anti-inflammatory medication, and other common therapeutic approaches. Those treatments can produce significant improvement — but only to a point.
Eventually, if the patient plateaus in progress — if each week they go to treatment and see little to no further improvement — that may indicate that conservative care has taken them as far as it can. At that stage, doctors may start discussing whether the patient is approaching or has reached maximum medical improvement. If the pain continues, interventional pain management or surgery may be considered — but even surgery does not guarantee the pain will resolve.
MMI Does Not Mean The Case Is Worth Less
Insurance companies routinely attempt to misuse MMI as a negotiating tactic. They try to argue that if treatment is ending, then the case is somehow worth less. That is fundamentally incorrect.
In fact, MMI often strengthens a case.
If the injury is now medically permanent — meaning no additional care can fix the problem — then damages may actually increase. Permanent impairment, permanent discomfort, long-term physical limitations, and permanent disfigurement are some of the most significant drivers of damages under Texas law. A person who will live with limitations or pain for decades has a higher value case than someone who expects a full recovery.
The Role of Impairment Ratings
One of the reasons MMI is so important is that doctors can only assign a permanent impairment rating once the patient has reached MMI. These impairment ratings are based on a nationally recognized system known as The American Medical Association (AMA) Guides to the Evaluation of Permanent Impairment. When physicians rely on these guidelines, they are not just describing symptoms — they are quantifying, in measurable form, the permanent loss of bodily function.
That documentation can be critical for settlement negotiations, mediation, and ultimately trial.
