According to figures from the National Institutes of Health, eight out of ten people are affected by back pain at some point in their lives. The pain can be incapacitating and affect lives and careers.
For years, the standard treatment for a herniated disc was either surgery or ongoing injections of steroids directly into the spine to alleviate symptoms.
More recently, another treatment has begun to emerge as a way to treat herniated discs. According to Dr. M. Jay Campbell at Parkside Spine Care in Lynnwood, lumbar decompression therapy is an extremely effective, comfortable, low risk procedure. “And it’s an affordable treatment,” Campbell said.
Campbell was a pioneer of lumbar or spinal decompression therapy in Washington State. When KING 5’s Jean Enerson reviewed the procedure for her Health Link reports, it was Campbell who appeared in that broadcast.
The key to the procedure’s success is removing pressure on the affected discs. Campbell sometimes describes treatment of a bedsore as an analogy to explain it. Bedsores are caused by pressure. Remove the pressure and the bedsore will usually start to heal.
“If you take the pressure off a degenerating disc, it will also heal if it’s not too far gone,” Campbell said.
The process to remove pressure from the discs is done using an FDA registered machine created by the Lordex Spine Institute. The decompression machine offers some gentle traction for the spine. Pressure is released and circulation is restored around the damaged discs. This promotes healing.
Before the using the machine, Campbell has his patients use the clinic’s water massage table to relieve any spasms, muscle pain or muscle tension. Some gentle strengthening and mobilizing therapy is next followed by the actual decompression itself. Usually some ice therapy completes the visit.
Because the decompression machine removes pressure on the damaged disc, many patients find rapid relief and are able to doze while the treatment is going on. An emergency release button is placed in the patient’s hand so that the treatment could instantly be stopped if it was at all uncomfortable.
The whole visit takes about forty-five minutes and is repeated multiple times over a period of four to ten weeks. The number of sessions depends on the severity of the injury and how quickly the patient is able to respond and heal.
Once healing is achieved, spinal decompression therapy results are lasting and the need for re-treatment is rare.
Campbell has treated patients from all sorts of careers — from executives in so much pain that they can’t sit at a desk to construction workers that aren’t able to walk or lift. For many, pain medications while at work are simply not an option.
That was the case for one of Campbell’s more recent patients. A commercial airline pilot had injured his lower back while working on his home landscaping. He was reluctant to have surgery because he was afraid of loss of work. The pilot couldn’t take pain medications without being grounded but lower back pain, leg pain and numbness from the herniated disc made sitting for long periods difficult. After the third session, Campbell said, the pilot began to feel improvement and continued to improve.
A truck driver that Campbell treated several years ago was in such pain he couldn’t sit up in the taxi that brought him to his first few appointments. Spinal decompression therapy was his last option before surgery. The therapy was successful and the patient did not have to have surgery or return for more treatment.
A recent case involved a patient who had already had spinal surgery and fusion once. She hated the idea of having to go through surgery again and so consulted Campbell. “She arrived at my office with severe leg and lower back pain,” Campbell said.
An MRI revealed severely herniated discs. However, the patient responded to spinal decompression therapy right away, achieving notable results in only ten days.
While there are still some cases that will require surgery, similar success stories have prompted some insurance carriers to now cover the treatment.
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