Spinal decompression is a viable pain relief option for chronic back pain. This nonsurgical therapy is noninvasive is shown to be effective in long-term pain relief and can be an excellent treatment alternative to back surgery.
Many people want to avoid the risks and complications of spinal decompression surgery, which often produce poor results. To avoid cervical spine surgery is always the better option, as long you are able to find an alternative to spine surgery that is effective in pain reduction. Spinal decompression doesn’t work for everyone but it is certainly work investigating before going under the knife.
Spinal decompression therapy typically involves almost daily sessions. A decompression table is used to provide gentle decompression. The decompression works in very minute increments, but over time the effects add up, allowing the disc to reshape itself and heal. These daily therapy sessions can span two to seven or more weeks. Spinal stabilization exercises are a regular component of these daily sessions.
Herniated disc is the most common spine condition that is treated with decompression spinal therapy. Herniated discs occur when a spinal disc bulges or ruptures. Sometimes the interior of the disc will actually break through and leak out into the body. When that happens, it is called a ruptured disc. Spinal decompression works exceptionally well as a herniated disc treatment.
Traditional corrective treatments for back pain include surgery or chiropractic adjustment. Spinal decompression therapy is an alternative that has shown very good results. In fact, spinal decompression is one of the better non-surgical treatments available for back pain and neck pain relief.
Numerous clinical studies show that spinal decompression therapy does indeed decompress disc space, generally by producing and sustaining negative intradiscal pressure. One such study found that almost 90 percent of the 219 decompression therapy patients reported immediate disappearance of symptoms. Also, 84 percent total remained pain-free for 3 months afterward.
That said, spinal decompression therapy is not 100 percent and it is not for everybody. Sciatica, spinal stenosis, disc hernia and disc protrusion are the conditions most helped by spinal decompression therapy.
There is a cost, both in terms of time and dollars, to spinal decompression therapy. A typical treatment consists of a minimum of 20 treatments, with an average payout of about $4,000. Most health plans do cover this therapy but if you have deductibles to meet and per visit co-payments, this still can be a costly way to relieve back pain.
At a cost of $300 to $500, an inversion table might give you the same results in the comfort of your own home. Inversion therapy is the practice of hanging upside down to apply gentle traction to the spine. It’s been used in one form or another for thousands of years. The basic principal is that when you invert your body, the amount of weight pulling on your spine is in direct proportion to the amount of force needed to align the spine.
On an inversion table, the weight of your entire upper body provides the right amount of force needed to cause spinal decompression. It creates negative pressure between each vertebra, which in turn draws the misaligned disc back into place.
Which option you select will largely be determined by the amount of money available for treatment, along with your doctor’s recommendation for the best treatment.