How does spinal decompression help with back pain?

I’m glad you are looking for facts about DECOMPRESSION THERAPY…not accupuncture or any other therapy. I read the answer before mine and I guess they just can’t read. You were pretty clear about not wanting opinions…JUST FACTS ABOUT DECOMPRESSION.

I have found the following information for you conerning decompression therapy. The majority of studies were based upon an earlier form of decompression therapy called VAX-D. The modern decompression brings with is significant changes in patient outcomes. In our clinic patients realize a 60-100% reduction in pain and symptoms. Studies indicate and my own presonal experience has proven that when decompression is applied correctly it can be a tremendous benefit to the patient who suffers with low back pain.

Here are links to what various scientific and medical communities report about spinal decompression…

http://www.painreliefclinics.com/RESEARCH.htm

Journal of Neurological Research, October 2001. For any given patient with low back and referred leg pain, we (the researchers) cannot predict with certainty which cause has assumed primacy. Therefore surgery, by being directed at root decompression at the site of the herniation alone, may not be effective if secondary causes of pain have become predominant. Decompression therapy, however, addresses both primary and secondary causes of low back and referred leg pain. We thus submit that Decompression therapy should be considered first, before the patient undergoes a surgical procedure which permanently alters the anatomy and function of the affected lumbar spine segment.

Journal of Neurological Research, October 2001. Same edition, different study. Dermatosomal Somatosensory Evoked Potential Demonstration of Nerve Root Decompression After VAX-D Therapy. Reductions in low back pain and referred leg pain associated with a diagnosis of herniated disc, degenerative disc disease or facet syndrome have previously been reported after treatment with a VAX-D table…The object of this study was to use dermatomal somatosensory evoked potentials (DSSEPs) to demonstrate lumbar root decompression following VAX-D therapy. Seven consecutive patients with a diagnosis of low back pain and unilateral or bilateral L5 or S1 radiculopathy were studied. All patients had at least 50% improvement in radicular symptoms and low back pain and three of them experienced complete resolution of all symptoms. The average pain reduction was 77%.

Journal of Neurological Research, April 1998. Data was collected from twenty-two medical centers for patients who received VAX-D therapy for low back pain, which was sometimes accompanied by referred leg pain. Only patients who received at least ten sessions and had a diagnosis of herniated disc, degenerative disc or facet syndrome which were confirmed by diagnostic imaging, were included in this study; a total of 778 cases. The treatment was successful in 71% of the 778 cases, when success was defined as a reduction in pain to 0 or 1, on a 0 to 5 scale. Improvements in mobility and activities of daily living correlated strongly with pain reduction.

From Anaethesiology News, March 2003.. Small, non-randomized follow-up study on the outcomes of decompression therapy on reducing chronic low back pain. Among 23 patients studied, 71% showed more than a 50% reduction in pain immediately after treatment, and 86% showed a 50% or better pain reduction at four years. After four years, 52% of respondents reported a pain level of zero.

Treatment of Discogenic Low Back Pain presentation, The VAX-D Therapeutic Table reduces intradiscal pressure to a minus 150mm Hg., effectively decompressing the disc. With conventional traction intradiscal pressures either increase, remain the same or slightly decrease. Conventional traction devices elicit reflex muscle contraction thus interfering with decompression. The VAX-D table has a time energy distraction curve that is logarithmic, and we believe this is the reason decompression occurs. Click here to read the study.
Medical Technologies Group special report on the VAX-D. Low back problems are expensive. While it is difficult to assess or calculate the total cost to society, there is strong evidence that both economic and psychosocial costs are substantial. Since MTG receives so many claims dealing with patients suffering from disc pathology, our Technology Assessment Division felt it prudent to study the literature for various treatment modalities in order to better evaluate the medical necessity of these types of claims. We particularly chose to study the effects of Vertebral Axial Decompression on intradiscal pressure.

American Association of Orthopaedic Medicine, 1999, The Science of Decompression. The following MRI films taken before and after VAX-D treatments demonstrate reduction of a large extruded herniated disc. The Radiologist that read and compared the before and after films commented that he was not aware of “what type of surgery” had been performed but that it was the most remarkable reduction of an extruded herniated disc that he had seen.

Journal of Neurosurgery, 1994. Effects of Vertebral Axial Decompression on Intradiscal Pressure. The object of this study was to examine the effect of vertebral axial decompression on pressure in the nucleus pulposus of lumbar discs. Changes in intradiscal pressure were recorded at resting state and while controlled tension was applied on a VAX-D therapeutic table. Intradiscal pressure demonstrated an inverse relationship to the tension applied. Tension in the upper rnage was observed to decompress the nucleus pulposus significantly, to below -100mm Hg.

Canadian Journal of Medicine, January 1999. Effects of Vertebral Axial Decompression on Sensory Nerve Dysfunction in Patients with Low Back Pain and Radiculopathy. The data from this study implies that VAX-D therapy is capable of influencing sensory nerve dysfunction associated with a compressive radiculopathy. Motor dysfunction returns before sensory dysfunction in compressive radiculopathies so it is rather striking that we observed total remission in 64% of the cases with sensory dysfunction. It is possible that reduction of intradiscal pressure by VAX-D significantly alters the biomechanics and biochemistry of the disc and nerve root.

Peer Reviewed Publications:
1. Gose EE, Nagusezewski WK, Nagusezewski RK. Vertebral axial decompression therapy for pain associated with herniated or degenerated discs or facet syndrome: an outcome study. Neurol Res. 1998; 20(3):186-90.
2. Naguszewski WK, Naguszewski RK, Gose EE. Dermatomal somatosensory evoked potential demonstration of nerve root decompression after VAX-D therapy. Neurol Res. 2001; 23:706-714.
3. Ramos G, Martin W. Effects of vertebral axial decompression on intradiscal pressure. J Neurosurg. 1994; 81(3):350-3.
4. Shealy CN, Borgmeyer V. Decompression, reduction, and stabilization of the lumbar spine: a cost-effective treatment for lumbosacral pain. Am J Pain Manage. 1997; 7(2):63-65.
5. Sherry E, Kitchener P, Smart R. A prospective randomized controlled study of VAX-D and TENS for the treatment of chronic low back pain. Neurol Res. 2001; 23(7):780-4.

Go to our web site for more information.

http://www.painreliefclincs.org
http://www.painreliefclincs.com

Feel free to give me a call for more information…I’d be glad to help.

314-922-8530

Dr. David Wills
Director Spinal Decompression
Breakthrough Pain Relief Clinics