Back pain is extremely common, affecting millions of Americans every year. In fact, researchers estimate about 80% of people will experience back pain at some point during their lifetimes, and about 14% will have chronic pain lasting for weeks or longer. Back pain is also a leading cause of hospitalizations.
At Easy Reach Chiropractic, Barbara Adonis, DC, and Heather Previll, PT, DPT, help patients relieve back pain with advanced therapy options, including spinal decompression. If you have back pain, here’s how decompression works and how to tell if it might help you.
To understand the basics of spinal decompression, you need to know a bit about spinal anatomy. Your spine is composed of a series of bones or vertebrae. Each pair of bones forms a joint, and in between each pair is a spongy disc that helps cushion the spine and maintain space between the vertebrae. Nerves also exit the spine, traveling to every other part of your body.
A lot of back pain involves the spine joints, the discs, or the nerves, particularly where they leave your spine. When your back is strained or overloaded, it can pull those discs out of position, resulting in nerve irritation and chronic pain, like sciatica.
As we get older, the spongy discs lose some of their moisture content, “flattening out” and increasing the risk of spine discomfort. Damaged nerve “roots” and worn out joints can also lead to chronic aches and pains, sometimes with symptoms that radiate into your arms or legs (depending on the location of the joint or disc).
Spinal decompression uses a special traction technique to apply gentle “stretching” to your spine to create negative pressure spaces. These spaces draw nutrients, oxygen-rich blood, and other healing fluids into the spaces between discs, promoting healing while relieving painful inflammation.
At the same time, traction expands the spaces between each pair of vertebrae, relieving nerve compression that causes local and radiating pain. It also helps realign your spine, restoring optimal position and function of all your spine components.
Spinal decompression can be a good choice for people with a variety of spine conditions, including:
Decompression is an outpatient therapy, and it can be repeated as needed to help keep painful symptoms at bay.
Decompression therapy uses a special traction table that helps stretch your spine safely. The table features a harness to secure you and keep your spine aligned during treatment.
Once the harness is in place, we activate the traction device, adjusting it as needed for your symptoms, your spine health, your anatomy, and other factors. During traction, you’ll feel slight stretching sensations in your back, but no pain.
The entire treatment takes about 30-45 minutes, and many patients benefit from a series of treatments to achieve maximum results. Decompression therapy also works well with other therapies, like physical therapy and spinal adjustment.
Chronic back pain can take a toll on your wellness, your comfort, and your quality of life. To learn how we can help you find relief, request an appointment online or over the phone with the team at Easy Reach Chiropractic in Lake Worth and Fort Lauderdale, Florida, today.
