Is Spinal Decompression A Legitimate Treatment?
Posted: Thursday, February 25, 2010
by George Best
http://www.discpainbook.com
Spinal decompression is a new type of traction that is used in the treatment of disc protrusions and degeneration in the lumbar and cervical spine. Spinal decompression has had quite a bit of controversy surrounding it since it first started gaining popularity in the United States. Some of the controversy is related to overzealous and perhaps even fraudulent claims that were made by some spinal decompression equipement manufacturers in their eagerness to gain market share, and additional controversy has come due to large amounts of ignorance and confusion regarding the differences in the treatment effects between regular spinal traction and spinal decompression.
For those who have not looked beyond their preconceived notions about spinal decompression, it might appear to be nothing more than the same spinal traction that has been used for decades in the treatment of back and neck pain. But there are definite differences between spinal decompression and regular traction that are significant in terms of their effects and treatment outcomes.
Regular traction systems simply pull on the spine at a pre-set rate and force. Spinal decompression systems gradually build up the force of the pull, and the more sophisticated spinal decompression systems can also adapt to the body's reactions to the treatment. For example, the DRX-9000 system monitors the body's resistance to the pull and if the body's muscles begin to contract and fight the treatment, the machine immediately (within 1/17th of a second) "gives" to the resistance by decreasing its pull. This adaptability of the machine allows the body to stay relaxed for the majority of the treatment and by keeping the body relaxed, the treatment effects are much greater on the spinal discs that what can be achieved with regular traction, or even the less-sophisticated spinal decompression systems.
Studies have shown that regular traction does reduce pressure in the spinal discs, but not enough to reduce disc protrusion nor enough to significantly improve the hydration or nutrition to the disc. Muscle resistance limits the effects of regular traction too much for it to produce significant benefits to most disc patients. The basic spinal decompression systems are a significant improvement on regular traction because the machine pulls gradually and avoids much of the muscle reaction and resistance, allowing for some retraction of disc bulging. High-end spinal decompression systems provide even greater effects on the discs because they can largely eliminated muscle resistance. These machines have been consistently shown to produce strong suction forces within the discs that result in good retraction of protruding disc tissue back towards the center of the disc and produce an influx of fluid and nutrients into the disc that are thought to assist in disc healing.
That being said, even the best spinal decompression systems do not work for every patient. There are of course situations that prevent the use of spinal decompression, but even with well-qualified patients, there are some people it just does not help. Although clinical studies claim a 90% success rate, the real world results are not as good. Formal clinical studies have the advantage of being able to exclude less-than-perfect test subjects and those who fail to follow the treatment protocol exactly to the letter. In the real world, there are complicating factors that can interfere with treatment results, people miss appointments, people engage in physical activities that they aren't ready for, etc..
With good patient screening, the true success rate for spinal decompression under real world conditions is probably closer to 70% by itself, and somewhat higher when combined with other forms of treatment. This success rate has proven to hold up long-term, and only a small number of patients are reported to relapse within a year of completing treatment. Even with the more modest success rate of 70%, spinal decompression is overall more effective than the more common treatments of spinal injections and surgery, which various studies have shown to provide long-term positive results in about 50% of cases.
Ultimately the effectiveness of spinal decompression for a given individual depends heavily on the specifics of the patient's condition. Generally, it works quite well for patients with degenerated and/or protruding discs of mild to moderate severity. Severe protrusions and extrusions (disc ruptures) will sometimes respond well to spinal decompression, but the results are much less reliable. It works well for patients of all ages. Interestingly, my experience has shown that spinal decompression seems to actually be somewhat more reliable for treating older individuals, perhaps because they are less likely to engage in heavy lifting and other activities that tend to re-injure the discs.
So, as to the questions most disc-pain sufferers have about spinal decompression, is it a legitimate form of treatment? Absolutely. Will it help you? Probably, assuming that you are a good candidate for treatment. Just remember that spinal decompression is not a cure-all as it is sometimes hyped to be. I highly recommend that most disc-pain sufferers at least try it before resorting to an invasive surgery, and most of the time sugery will not be necessary. Best of all, for those patients who do get good results from spinal decompression, most are able to return to just about any activity they wish to do, whereas those who undergo surgery are often significantly limited.
Although is is far from a perfect solution to disc-related pain, spinal decompression is a good treatment option for most people with protruding and/or degenerated spinal discs.
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