Spinal Decompression Therapy GA

Between the vertebrae of the spine there is delicate disc material, which helps to cushion your spine from the impact of daily activities such as walking, sitting, turning, or lifting. Increases in pressure over time from having the wrong posture, or wear and tear from improper biomechanics, can cause the disc material to become damaged or diminish altogether; thus, causing back pain. When you have back pain that won’t go away, you might find relief with spinal decompression therapy GA.

Chronic back pain affects millions of Americans each year, causing discomfort and an inability to enjoy daily life to the fullest. In addition to physical pain, many people who experience back pain also develop various emotional side effects, such as anxiety, depression, or general low mood. For many people, chronic back pain affects every aspect of their lives.

Back pain can cause a limited range of motion and greatly decrease a person’s mobility, interfering with their personal and professional responsibilities. Fortunately, as technology advances, there are many innovative spinal treatments available designed to improve pain and discomfort, including spinal decompression.

Read on to learn more about spinal decompression therapy and how it may help your back pain.

What Is Spinal Decompression Therapy?

Spinal decompression therapy is a nonsurgical spinal treatment using motorized traction therapy to safely and effectively elongate and stretch the spine. Nonsurgical spinal decompression can alleviate tension and pressure from the sensitive spinal disks and nerves, helping to relieve pain and discomfort.

The gentle decompression of the spine can improve circulation, blood flow and nutrient exchange to injured portions of the spine. There are several cycles of stretching and relaxing during a nonsurgical spinal decompression treatment. Each session can provide additional relief of tension and help decompress the spine.

Like other nonsurgical spinal treatments, spinal decompression therapy is performed by a trained healthcare professional on a traction table. You will wear a harness around the lower back, controlled via a computer by your doctor. This computer can gently stretch your spine, allowing fluid to enter the disks, which have been constricted because of spinal compression. The fluid helps promote healing within the spine and reduce pressure.

Most nonsurgical spinal decompression patients require multiple treatments to achieve optimal results. While every patient’s treatment schedule will vary, the average patient may need to go for treatment three times a week for four weeks, totaling 12 sessions. Many patients begin noticing small improvements in pain and discomfort within a few sessions.

How Spinal Decompression Works

This type of therapy uses the fundamental principle of spinal traction, which is traditionally provided by osteopaths and chiropractors. Spinal decompression aims to promote an optimal healing environment for damaged, unhealthy, or slipped disks. Spinal decompression therapy can help achieve lower pressure in the disk, resulting in additional nutrients being able to reach the disk and promote healing.

Another goal of nonsurgical spinal decompression therapy GA is to achieve negative pressure between the disks to help reposition slipped, bulging, or misplaced disks and disk material. You can undergo spinal decompression while being fully clothed, as your doctor can put the harness over clothing around the pelvic region.

After the harness is in place, you can lie on the table face up or down. The doctor will use a computer to perform the treatment and will customize the therapy to fit your unique needs. The doctor will also determine how many treatment sessions are necessary.

Conditions Spinal Decompression Can Treat

Nonsurgical spinal decompression therapy is an innovative treatment designed to alleviate upper, middle, and low back pain discomfort and compressions. Spinal decompression is often recommended if you’re experiencing pain, weakness, numbness, or a limited range of motion.

Some of the common conditions spinal decompression may treat include:

Sciatica – Sciatica can cause pain that radiates along the sciatic nerve’s path, which stems from the lower back through the buttocks, hips, and down the legs. Sciatica may only affect one side of the body, but it can occur on both sides of the body. Many people develop it when the nerve is compressed, resulting from herniated disks, spinal stenosis, or bone spurs.
Spinal Stenosis – Spinal stenosis is when the spaces within the spine are narrowed, applying pressure on the nerves that travel through the spinal column. In most cases, spinal stenosis develops in the neck and the lower back. While some people with spinal stenosis may not display symptoms, others may experience pain, numbness, tingling, and muscle weakness.
Degenerative Disk Disease – While disk degeneration is a normal aspect of aging, degenerative disk disease refers to degenerated disks that cause pain, discomfort, and other symptoms when the cushion between vertebrae starts wearing out. Studies have found approximately 30% of people by the age of 35 will show signs of disk degeneration. One of the most common symptoms of degenerative disk disease includes pain that feels worse when bending, sitting, lifting, or twisting.

Causes of Back Pain

Several conditions may contribute to or worsen back pain. Understanding what is causing your back pain can help you determine what treatments may help you relieve spinal tension, pain, or discomfort.

The spine is a complex part of our body and contains many bones, nerves, muscles, and ligaments. If any of these spinal components become compressed or damaged, pain is likely to occur, and therefore, you’ll have to seek pain relieving treatment such as spinal decompression therapy GA.

Some of the most common causes of back pain include:

Age – Age is one of the leading contributing factors. Back pain is common as we age because the body begins to become more fragile over time. As you age, your spine continues to change and may become more susceptible to stiffness or pain. Age-related back discomfort and pain are typically caused by general degeneration of the spinal joints, causing bones to painfully grind against one another.
Osteoporosis – Osteoporosis is a common condition, affecting around 10 million people over the age of 50. While osteoporosis is known to largely affect women, it is also a concern for older men. Osteoporosis causes the bones to become weaker and more prone to breaking or fracturing. The resulting fractures that may occur within the spine are what cause painful symptoms.
Arthritis – Spinal osteoarthritis can develop in the facet joints located in the back, which link each bone vertebra. The spinal bones or vertebrae and intervertebral disks make up the spinal column, along with the vertebral joints and cartilage lining. The joints and vertebrae may not have as much cushion from wear and tear, causing the bone to come into contact with bone, which can be very painful. Most types of arthritis affect the back.
Disk Complications – The intervertebral disks cushion each vertebra and protect them from coming into direct contact. Disk-related problems can cause back pain because the protective material of the disks is either degenerated, slipped, or damaged. Some of the most common types of back pain include disk protrusion, disk strain, sciatica, and degenerative disk disease.
Ligament or Muscle Strain – There are two soft tissue injuries that can occur in the back — muscle and ligament strains. Muscle strains are when the muscle fibers tear from repeated use or overstretching. A muscle strain is more commonly known as a pulled muscle. The other type of soft tissue injury is known as a lumbar sprain, which is when the ligaments are torn or stretched.

Is Spinal Decompression Therapy Effective?

Research has found that 86% of patients who received spinal decompression therapy for a ruptured disk said they experienced good-to-excellent results. While traditional chiropractic and physical therapy treatments may provide temporary relief, only nonsurgical spinal decompression therapy has been found to create negative pressure within the spine to allow for decompression.

Traditionally, a pulling sensation would cause the spine’s sensory receptors to trigger, tightening the muscles around the disks and vertebrae in an attempt to protect them from potential injury. This process is known as the proprioception response. However, spinal decompression therapy can bypass this immediate response by slowly and gently elongating the spine and letting the spine relax over periods of time.

These sessions of activation and rest allow the spinal disks to naturally reposition without tension or pressure, initiating muscle spasms or a muscle guarding response. Spinal decompression therapy GA is a versatile treatment modality that can help alleviate pressure, pain, and discomfort related to various spinal conditions.

Benefits of Spinal Decompression Therapy

Back pain is a common medical problem. Because most of us work physically demanding jobs or spend a large portion of our days sitting, our spines are much more likely to compress, creating tension and discomfort. Spinal compression can lead to disk degeneration and other medical complications that cause chronic pain.

Fortunately, nonsurgical spinal decompression is a noninvasive treatment that can help relieve built-up pressure and tension, allowing people to experience back pain relief. Unlike medication or other treatment modalities, nonsurgical spinal decompression can improve pain at its source instead of just masking symptoms.

The following are some of the benefits of spinal decompression therapy:

Nonsurgical Treatment – One of the main benefits of spinal decompression therapy is it’s a nonsurgical treatment, meaning patients do not have a long recovery period or downtime associated with traditional surgery. While spinal surgery is an effective treatment that may be right for some patients, most physicians suggest nonsurgical treatments to see if patients experience relief without undergoing extensive surgery. Most patients can return to their daily activities or work immediately after treatment.
Alleviate Pain and Tension – This therapy can improve tension and pain caused by spinal pressure or compression. Most patients find relief from chronic back pain following multiple sessions of spinal decompression therapy, allowing them to enjoy daily life more. Without chronic back pain, you can enjoy a wide range of motion and a greater level of mobility.
Versatile Therapy – This is a versatile treatment that can improve back pain caused by many spinal conditions. Some of the most common spinal conditions decompression therapy can improve include sciatica, degenerative disk disease, and pinched spinal nerve roots. Bulging, slipped or herniated disks also respond well to spinal decompression therapy.
Long-Term Results – Spinal decompression therapy’s goal is to provide long-term results for patients, improving their overall quality of life. While you may need multiple or ongoing sessions, spinal decompression therapy helps provide long-term relief.

Who Should Consider Spinal Decompression Therapy?

This therapy may be ideal for patients experiencing ongoing or chronic back pain. Patients who experience back pain from spinal pressure or compression may be ideal candidates for spinal decompression therapy GA. Spinal decompression is generally recommended for most patients in otherwise good health.

Note that there are certain conditions that may benefit from alternative treatments or surgical intervention. During your consultation, the doctor can help determine the cause of your back pain and if you are an ideal candidate for non-surgical spinal decompression therapy.

Spinal decompression is not recommended for pregnant women or women who may become pregnant, as this procedure causes slight pressure on the abdomen. Spinal instability from spinal degeneration, advanced osteoporosis, or other conditions may also cause patients to be ineligible for these treatments.

Patients who have undergone previous spinal surgery will need to discuss the details of their past procedures to determine if they are ideal candidates. Unless the bone has been fused, the use of metal plates, screws, or similar hardware may cause a patient to be ineligible for spinal decompression therapy GA.

Other conditions that may cause a person to be ineligible for spinal decompression include severe nerve damage, grade 3 or 4 spondylolisthesis, or disk space infections. Patients with a history of aortic aneurysm or metastatic cancer that has spread to the bone may not be ideal candidates, either.

What to Expect From Spinal Decompression Therapy

Spinal decompression therapy aims to achieve pain relief by promoting an optimal healing environment for multiple spinal conditions, including degenerative, slipped, bulging, or ruptured disks. It can improve circulation and blood flow to the spinal disks, moving oxygen and nutrient-rich fluids toward damaged portions of the spine.

This improved circulation can promote tissue repair, cell renewal, and long-term improvement and healing. A spinal decompression treatment works by gently and steadily stretching the spinal column to reduce the amount of pressure on the spinal disks, creating negative pressure in the spine. Spinal decompression can create a reverse vacuum that helps reposition a protruding or slipped disk back into its normal position.

Spinal Decompression Therapy Risks

Although spinal decompression is an innovative, effective treatment for those experiencing back pain, it may not be the right procedure for all patients. As with any medical procedure or treatment, spinal decompression therapy GA does have potential risk factors to consider. Fortunately, the risk of complications with nonsurgical spinal decompression therapy GA is very low.

Before undergoing a spinal decompression treatment, your doctor will perform a physical examination to determine if you are a candidate for this treatment. In some cases, medical imaging tests, such as X-rays or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), may be necessary to determine your eligibility. Medical imaging can help determine if you have a spinal condition that requires alternative treatment.

It is important to note the potential risk of spinal decompression therapy. While unlikely, some patients may experience pain after spinal decompression therapy. In this case, a physician will likely suggest seeking an alternative treatment that may be more effective. In addition to pain, some patients may experience muscle spasms or contractions following treatment. In other cases, patients may notice pain that radiates down their arms or legs.

Always inform your doctor of any side effects you are experiencing so they can modify your treatment plan.

You should see a doctor if your back pain does not get better with pain relievers, rest, heat and cold packs. If your back-pain treatment does not seem to be helping, talk to your doctor. You may need to try a different spinal decompression treatment.

Seek Treatment Today

Are you experiencing debilitating, ongoing, or chronic back pain? You may want to try nonsurgical spinal decompression therapy GA to find the pain relief you’re looking for. Visit Advanced Health Solutions – GA Spine & Disc for this treatment.