When one looks past the controversy, it becomes clear that spinal decompression is a solid form of treatment for disc-related pain. It is neither the faultless miracle touted by its promoters nor the shameless scam claimed by its detractors. Like most things, the truth about spinal decompression lies somewhere in the middle.
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.
With regular traction treatment, the traction system pulls on the spine at a set rate and force. Spinal decompression systems pull very gradually and slowly build up the force over time, with the more technologically advanced spinal decompression systems also being able to monitor and react to the body's reactions to treatment. As an example, the DRX-9000 spinal decompression system monitors the body's resistance to the traction and if the body begins to resist the pull, within 1/17th of a second, the machine will decrease its pull and give to the resistance. This adaptive feature of the machine keeps the body's muscles relaxed during the majority of the treatment and this allows for much greater effects on the spinal discs than what is possible with standard spinal traction machines, and even the less advanced spinal decompression machines.
Studies done on changes in disc pressure from regular traction found that although traction did reduce disc pressure, it was insufficient to reduce disc bulging or to significantly improve disc hydration and nutrition. This is because muscular resistance to traction forces simply limits the effects of the traction pull. The least sophisticated of the spinal decompression systems improve on these results and do reduce disc bulging in some cases because the traction pull builds up very gradually and helps prevent muscular resistance resulting in dramatic reduction in disc pressure to a mild suction force sufficient to retract disc bulges. With the higher-end spinal decompression systems, treatment effects are greater still because they can largely eliminate muscular reaction and resistance. These systems have been shown to actually produce strong suction forces within the spinal discs which effectively pull protruding disc material back into the disc as well as pull in fluid and nutrients which are believed to promote disc healing.
Despite the overall effectiveness of spinal decompression, it does not work for every patient. Some situations prevent the use of spinal decompression, but even with properly screened patients, there are some cases in which it does not help. Some published studies have indicated a success rate of nearly 90%, but the real-world success rate is not that high. Researchers have the advantage of being able to choose only the most ideal of test subjects and can remove test subjects who do not follow the treatment protocol precisely. When dealing with real-world patients, various complicating factors may be present and not all patients cooperate perfectly with their prescribed treatment.
With careful patient selection, the real success rate for spinal decompression is probably around 70- 75% as a stand-alone treatment, and perhaps somewhat higher when combined with other therapies. This success rate seems to hold up in the long run for most patients as well, with very few reported recurrences of symptoms a year after treatment. But even at a 70% success rate, spinal decompression is more effective than the most common disc-related treatments currently in use, such as spinal injections and surgery, which most studies have found provide long-term benefits in only about 50% of patients.
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.
Spinal decompression is not perfect, but it is a very good treatment option for the majority of disc-pain sufferers.
Spinal Decompression San Antonio invites you to visit their website for more information and to get your FREE copy of "The Spine Pain Guide", compliments of South Texas Non-Surgical Spinal Center.
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