Dr. Dalfino's Non-Surgical Treatment Blog

Spinal Decompression Can Really Help Your Back Pain

When spinal discs are functioning properly they are constantly taking in fresh nutrients and oxygen from the blood and expelling waste products. When they are injured (disc bulge, disc herniation, disc degeneration) they are unable to do this and lose the ability to function properly.

The herniated disc fragments or a bulging disc can put pressure on the spinal cord and nerves causing severe pain and loss of function.

Spinal decompression can isolate on a specific spinal disc level until it is healthy enough to do it on it's own.  

The length of treatment naturally depends on the severity of the condition, but most cases take anywhere between 6-8 weeks of treatment.

If you would like to find out if you are a candidate for non-surgical lumbar spinal decompression, call our clinic at 203-922-9277 today for a free evaluation!

 

" Does space travel cure back pain? "

When astronauts go into a weightless environment, the disks in the spine begin to swell with fluid. Because the spine normally has a lot of weight on it, in anti-gravity there is a lack of compression on the spine. This causes the disks to decompress making the spine longer. The spinal cord and nerves do not stretch much and do not adapt well to this change in length of the spine.

As far as space travel and back pain, decompression for several days tends to be too much of a good thing. After a long trip in space, the astronaut can gain a few inches in height. This extreme stretch of the spinal column can cause a lot of back pain.

Bed rest also decompresses the spine. But bed rest for more than two days will actually increase low back pain. Besides lengthening the spine substantially, spinal muscles do not get much work while in a weightless environment.

With the DRX9000™, decompression of the spine is achieved by loading the spine in a way that counters the pull of your muscles, which they tend to do in conventional traction. This loading causes a slight degree of decompression of the disk. This slight decompression can sometimes be enough to take pressure off of a nerve. In some patients, decompression treatment causes a negative pressure to develop inside of the disk. This negative pressure may then "draw in" the protruding disk material.

Multiple treatments with gradual decompression for about 40 minutes is the aim of the DRX9000™. Preliminary studies show that the DRX9000™ may help patients with back pain through its decompression effects.

So space travel does not cure back pain, but the principles of spinal decompression can be applied here on earth. By decompressing the spine for a few minutes over several weeks, some of the gravity effects on the spine are reversed.

The disk may be moved away from a painful nerve while the vertebrae are separated during decompression. The DRX9000™ can also have the pull angled in such a way that the loading is applied to a particular spinal vertebra. In the patient with a herniated or bulging disc and back or leg pain, the DRX9000™ decompression treatment may be a solution.

If you are considering elective back surgery for a bulging disk, the DRX9000™ is another conservative treatment option that you can now consider.

" Do Drugs Really Affect Disc Protrusions? "

Patients often ask about the safety and effectiveness of drugs they may have been prescribed by a medical doctor. The patient is typically seeing me for a consultation regarding treatment for a herniated or protruded disc. I am also asked if I recommend back surgery for these types of problems.

Most back patients who injure their back go to see medical doctors for a diagnosis and treatment. Only about 1/3 of patients will see Doctors of Chiropractic for a back problem. Back problems are generally 'mechanical’ in nature, and involve injury to the spinal ligaments, especially the disc, which is a very hard cartilage that separates the bones of the spine and allows slight movements to occur. It is not a "shock absorber," which is a common misconception I see printed in numerous patient education pamphlets. It is a tough ligament, not a sponge.

The disc is a highly specialized structure, designed to resist certain mechanical loads, such as compression (e.g. gravity). Unfortunately, due to its specialization, it cannot resist all forces or loads equally. The disc is very vulnerable when you are in a forward bent position, especially if you twist the spine while in this stooped posture. When patients injure their back, they'll sometimes hear a loud snapping sound which can be due to the disc fibers tearing. If the tearing is substantial, the disk will then begin to protrude or herniate and compress a spinal nerve, sometimes producing leg pain (called sciatica), in addition to low back pain.

            If you see a medical doctor after injuring your disc you may be prescribed an anti-inflammatory drug (e.g. NSAID) and/or a muscle "relaxor." Patients who injure their disc will also have muscle spasm. This is an innate protective mechanism to keep you from moving so that the nerve is not further injured. Muscle spasm is not the cause of the problem. The cause is the disc injury. This is why muscle relaxants rarely help disc problems. The scientific evidence for their effectiveness is very poor.

            The NSAID approach is to decrease inflammation and block pain signals. Pain signals are also an innate mechanism to keep you from moving while the disc heals. These medications do not do anything favorably in terms of the disc, which is the cause of the problem. Keep in mind that mechanical problems are most likely to be helped with a mechanical type of treatment. If the problems were mostly muscle spasm and pain, then there would be logic to using them as treatments. Unfortunately, the medication approach for back problems is too common, simply because medical doctors are poorly educated about spinal mechanical problems. They view nearly all treatment through a medication "window." When all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.

“What is Decompression therapy?”

Decompression therapy is designed to decompress the pressure on a nerve from a herniated or degenerated disc.

 

As we age, and various traumas of daily life accumulate, the discs of the spine undergo a gradual process of deterioration. When a disc degenerates, the outer border buckles onto a nerve, producing pain, numbness, or muscle weakness. The nerves that are affected in the low back can be compressed and this produces leg pain or sciatica.

 

Studies of traction treatments have shown that when traction is applied to the spine, this can cause the disc material to move away form the nerve. Sometimes a negative pressure within the disc is produced. This negative pressure or vacuum can then move the herniated nucleus back towards the center of the disc where it can cause less nerve pressure.

 

In conventional traction, there may or may not be negative pressure created within the disc. New technologies called “decompression’ means that there is, in fact, reduction of the disc displacement, and less pressure on the nerve, from these procedures. It is believed that unless the traction forces are applied in a specific protocol, there will be resistance or contraction from the muscles of the spine, and there will be no decompression.

 

During a treatment, you lie on your back in a relaxed position. Yours knees are elevated with a wedge shaped pillow underneath. Your arms go over some rests and a harness is attached to your lower back. In initial treatments you will feel a slight pull and then a backing-off of the pressure. Gradually your spine elongates and there is decompression of the disc and nerve.

 

Usually several treatments are required and at each visit the amount of the traction is increased. Each patient will require different protocols, especially important is how much the person weighs. Some patients do better with lighter traction, others with more. After treatment, ice or nerve stimulation therapy may be applied to decrease pain. After the first few treatments, there may be a slight increase in pain. This spinal soreness should then be followed by much less pain as the treatment progresses. Tell your doctor about how you feel after each session, as this feedback is important. Any increase in leg pain after the treatment is a poor sign and might indicate you are not the best candidate for the procedure.

“What is a Degenerated Disc?”

 

A report from your doctor that you have a “degenerated disc” can sound scary until you realize that lots of people have degenerated discs and it does not mean surgery. It is important to understand how the disc works in the low back, how it is injured, and how it can be safely treated, to get the best results with your condition.

 

            So what is a disc? A disc is nothing more than cartilage similar to the cartilage in your knee. Cartilage covers bones and connects them allowing a joint to be formed. Cartilage and ligaments are what make motion possible but they also restrain movements that are too large. In the case of the spine, there are 24 individual bones called vertebrae. The disc is a cartilage that connects each of these vertebrae.

 

The disc can be injured just like a knee or an ankle can be sprained. The injury will stretch the ligaments and cartilage and cause them to tear. Whenever the body is injured, inflammation follows which serves to begin the healing process. Damaged tissue is consumed and scars are laid down.

 

In the case of the disc, the degeneration is usually at the back portion of the disc, because that is the location of the original injury. The disc also contains a more watery center called the nucleus. When injury to the disc occurs, the joint does not move properly. Lack of movement can be just as detrimental as too much movement. With this lack of motion there is less movement of water, in and out of the nucleus. The nucleus then dehydrates and the disc begins to collapse under the weight of gravity.     

 

            You were likely shown an x-ray of the degenerated disc and told that the space between the vertebrae is smaller because the disc material is degenerating. An MRI or CT scan can also show the degenerated disc. However, it does not mean that you need surgery.

 

The body is meant to handle degeneration of the disc and many people do quite well despite what an MRI or x-ray may show. Other patients have a bulging of the disc along with the loss of height. This bulging, called a herniation, can press on the nerve and cause back or leg pain (sciatica).

 

If the pressure within the disc can be lowered, then it is possible to create a vacuum that draws the bulging disc away from the nerve. Decompression treatment uses this effect as a treatment for back pain and leg pain caused by a degenerated disc.

 

YOU MAYBE A CANDIDATE FOR RELIEF.

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