Non-surgical Spinal Decompression for Disc Herniation

What is disc herniation? For most of those who suffer from it, it boils down to back pain. The spine is composed of bony pieces, alternating with soft gelatinous cushions called spinal discs. These discs absorb shocks and help to cushion the spine and make it flexible and moveable. As people age, these discs becomes less soft and more vulnerable to damage. Sometimes this deterioration is asymptomatic; in some individuals, disc bulge and press on sensitive nerves and blood vessels in the spine, causing pain and weakness, among other symptoms. This bulging action of the disc is called a disc herniation.

In some people, disc herniation resolves itself. In others, the disc herniation becomes chronic and must be treated for the patient to have a good quality of life.

Conventional medical responses to disc herniation include rest, pain medications, and in more extreme cases, disc surgery, which is sometimes successful and sometimes not. The surgery involves incisions near the spinal cord, and one small mistake in this area can bring disastrous consequences. Some patients, in addition, might not be in a physical condition amenable to surgery in general. There is a better answer for many patients, and that answer is non-surgical spinal decompression for disc herniation.

What exactly is non-surgical spinal decompression? It’s a new treatment for disc herniation that is producing some very good results. In the last few years, some mechanized procedures have been developed in response to the problems presented by simple traction treatments. Traction treatments often involve levels of force that are difficult both for the patient to tolerate, and for the therapist to control. Non-surgical spinal decompression helps to counteract the forces for the patient, by placing them in a supine position instead of an upright position, and provides the chiropractor or therapist with a more precise control of the force being applied to the spine. In this way, traction applied by computerized means becomes a much gentler treatment for disc herniation.

The risks and inconveniences of spinal fusion surgery for herniated discs is so great, that any and all non-surgical options must be considered and tried first before such an option can be reasonably entertained. More people are undergoing disc surgery than ever before, but good results are not growing in correspondence with the amount of surgery being performed. Non-surgical spinal decompression is one other option that can be considered and tried short of surgery for herniated discs. It is noninvasive and effective in many cases. Experimental data performed so far shows that this procedure produces good results with little to no adverse effects on over half of the patients who underwent such a procedure. While further studies need to be done in the future to provide more empirical data, the current results are very promising.

It is worthwhile to begin treatments for disc herniation with other treatments that are currently covered by insurance. If such treatments fail to improve disc herniation in patients, however, it would be well to keep in mind that treatments such as non-surgical spinal decompression do exist, and would be worthwhile to consider short of the extreme measure of spinal surgery.