Spinal Decompression Therapy
There are many clinics today promising effective care for your back/spine conditions including some of the advertised clinics as seen on TV and other forms of media. These back clinics take a “one size fits all” approach and rely solely on a single treatment known as “Spinal Decompression Therapy” for most causes of back pain. These clinics typically advertise an 85% success rate; however patients are required to pay IN ADVANCE for at least 20 sessions or more. Typically, costs averaging $250 dollars per session adding up to $5,000 dollars or more. Please be aware of some back clinics that may also utilize unlicensed staff to administer your treatment who are “supervised” by a Chiropractor or Naturopath…who may be working offsite.
Spinal decompression is essentially “revolutionized” traction (traction has been used by chiropractors and physiotherapists for over 50 years). However, spinal decompression is not appropriate (contra-indicated) for some causes of back pain, including some cases of advanced degeneration, advanced osteoporosis and post surgical patients. In selected patients, spinal decompression has the capability to safely decompress spinal segments; stretching ligaments, muscles and joint tissues. The intermittment decompressive action of the table also recreates a process known as “imbibition” the natural method for disc diffusion. Your spinal discs have the potential to rehydrate under the mechanical forces of the spinal decompression unit. Over time and over the course of many successive treatments, there is some clinical evidence (excluding randomized controlled clinical research trials) to indicate that this form of treatment contributes to reduced pain from irritated nerve tissue and/or damaged disc material.
Consider that back pain does not originate from one single cause. There are hundreds of causes, from simple sprain/strains to disc herniations, to the first sign of cancer. Most often back pain is the result of multiple injuries, dysfunctions and disease. In fact, back pain is now considered by the World Health Organization as a “chronic disease” because it has huge impacts on our health, productivity, our econmony and quality of our life.
It can’t be ignored that spinal decompression therapy has shown effectiveness in the treatment of some cases of spinal sprain/strains and even some cases of disc herniations. However, for the majorty of cases, i.e. discogenic injuries, spinal stenosis, degenerative disc disease, spinal decompression therapy is much more effective when used in conjunction with other modalities. This approach ensures long lasting restorative effects with fewer treatment visits and less overall costs.
We do not prescribe a “one size fits all” treatment prescription for our patients but focus on a comprehensive treatment approach involving multiple modalities and clinical providers. It is important to understand that our state-of-the-art spinal decompression therapy is only a part of our overall managment under the Spine Care Program. Patients at our clinic typically average less treatment visits as compared to other clinics (between 6 to 15 visits over the course of 3 to 12 weeks) in order to achieve significant improvements.
Spinal decompression may be an important part of your treatment plan when clinically appropriate..but the key word is “part” ! The evidence (clinical research) is rich for the use of spinal rehabilitation and spinal manipulation for many causes of back pain. Some physiotherapeutics (including ultrasound and laser) have inclusive evidence but appear to be clinically useful when used with other treatments. Back pain is also highly associated with dietary compromises, stress, depression and poor lifestyle choices. The research is also clear that back pain tends to reoccur if all these factors are not addressed.
We use a comprehensive approach to the treatment of back disorders. For each patient, we will develop a 5-pronged progressive treatment approach to address the management of your specific spinal condition. The 5 program phases include:
Pain Management
Education and Reassurance
Regeneration and Repair
Lifestyle Modification
Functional Rehabilitation
Patients will receive individualized treatment plans for their specific spinal condition are encouaged to commit to the number of visits recommended to achieve results. Also, in limited cases, please consult with our Case Manager about financial assistance for our clinical programs.
Dr. Connie D’Astolfo
