Spinal Decompression
Hi!
My experience with decompression traction therapy has turned to be a good one...after x-rays and an MRI revealed that I suffered from spinal disc degeneration, and that there was apparently no disc visible at the last element of my lower back, I began to try to act to help myself.
I went to the Spine Center at Loma Linda University; the surgeon looked at the x-rays, then asked if I was in any pain...I was then advised to wait 'till the pain became unbearable, then come back and he'd fuse the spine for me...that was it! The whole session lasted ~6 minutes.
I saw a full page ad in the local paper, and decided to take a look; I went to the Spine and Disc Laser Pain Center in Corona, CA, run by 2 Chiropractors, and decided to go for it.
The treatment consisted of 35 back traction sessions lasting ~20 minutes each, twice a week. Each time I went, my lower back felt really pretty good, but noticeably tender and a bit sensitive. I was advised that it was due to the structures in my back being moved around.
The treatment began ~ 12-12-10; it's been quite a while now ('bout a year & a half), and so far, no problems with my back...and no longer any tenderness either. While I was going there I talked with quite a few others who were going there, the place was always crowded..almost without exception, they all claimed really serious improvement. The only person who seemed to have ongoing trouble was a woman who'd been badly clobbered in a car crash, and whose neck had been really badly trashed. She had no health insurance, and had been advised by a surgeon that the total cost of neck surgery would be ~$184,000. By the time I left, she was having some pretty good days....but was still going through some bad days as well...so this thing is not a consistent miracle-worker.
The cost of this is serious, and so far, insurance won't pay. But surgery for this stuff does NOT have a real good track record...
I was told that the developer of the DTS machine was an Orthopedic surgeon, not a Chiropractor.
I've since discovered that quite a few Chiropractors are offering this treatment, with rather varying costs, apparently. As usual, experience and skill are hugely important...
Robert