Spinal Decompression, What It Can Do For You

SPINAL DECOMPRESSION   In our office we often will treat patients with spinal decompression therapy.  The basic answers to the questions people have are as follows: What is Spinal Decompression? Spinal decompression therapy is a non-surgical traction based treatment that can effectively treat back and leg pain.  It works extremely well for treating herniated or bulging discs in the lower back, along with degenerative disc disease, spinal stenosis, sciatica, facet syndrome and radiculopathy.  It is extremely safe, affordable and revolutionary procedure that has been very helpful on many, many people. How does Spinal Decompression work?  It is a traction based therapy, gradual application or release of traction forces designed to relax the paraspinal muscles so they do not guard of spasm.  This creates a negative pressure on the spine which then allows increased blood flow bringing substantial oxygen and nutrients to the disc.  We are working to allow the protruded or herniated disc to be pulled back within the normal confines of the disc which allows healing to occur. What are some of the conditions that can benefit from lumbar traction/decompression? Herniated disc in the back, bulging disc, degenerative disc disease, sciatica, radiculopathy, spinal stenosis, facet syndrome are a few of the problems it may help Is Spinal Decompression painful? No, for the vast majority of patients the treatment is completely painless or relatively painless, patients are often able to relax during treatment, some even fall asleep. How many sessions are needed? The answer is it varies, many doctors tell patient there is a certain number of visits that are needed, but I believe it’s hard to say because each person is individual and responds differently.  Usually somewhere 10-30 visits over a 4-10 week period, or 20 sessions over 6 weeks would be in the normal range.  The key thing to look at, in most cases usually within 6-8 visits you should be 25% better, 12-15 visits should be around 50% improvement. Are other therapies or treatments used with spinal decompression to help people get faster improvement? Spinal decompression can be used by itself or in combination with other therapies to reduce inflammation and assist the healing process and in doing that sometimes you treat other areas, sometimes with an adjustment, sometimes with muscle stimulation, sometimes with ultrasound, sometimes with acupuncture for pain control, or laser to decrease inflammation and speed the healing process there are different things. Physical therapy whether it’s passive, heat, muscle stimulation, ice, stretching exercises.  Then as a person gets to feeling better, active rehabilitation to stabilize and strengthen the spinal muscles and that’s one thing we are going to be working here with you, you are going to be working with yourself at home. Active rehab exercises where you are strengthening and stabilizing the paraspinal muscles, the flexor muscles, of the pelvis and abdominal, the extensor muscles of the back, very important in doing that.  It maximizes the chances of a successful outcome. Where is Spinal Decompression not indicated? Pregnant women, severe osteoporosis, past spinal fusion surgery with metal instrumentation in the body, spinal fusion surgery less than one year, severe arthritis, inflammatory diseases, malignancies, all these are contra-indications. What are the goals of spinal traction or spinal decompression therapy.  The goals: 1.    To relieve pain, to decompress the nerves that are being compressed, decompress the discs 2.    To improve overall nutrition by improving blood flow 3.    To stimulate joint fluid production, the motion is lotion idea 4.    To increase the range of motion, unlock the facet joints and stretch the tight tissues. All of those goals help improve function.  So decrease pain and increase function.  Disc and facet problems count for most back and neck disorders.