Common Causes of Back Pain
Your spine is a column of cylindrical bones stacked vertically with a gel like cushion, known as a disc, between the bones. The discs allow for spinal mobility and offer shock absorption from impact. Unfortunately, these discs can also become a source of pain when too much compression is loaded on the spine. Whether due to trauma or higher load “wear and tear”, overly compressed discs can bulge (similar to a car tire with low air) or herniate (think stepping on a jelly donut and the jelly squeezing out). Degenerative disc disease is another common disc condition marked by a gradual erosion of the discs’ ability to distribute and resist mechanical loads. All of these compressed disc conditions can irritate exiting spinal nerves, leading to numbness, tingling, or paresthesia traveling into the legs. This symptom is commonly referred to as sciatica.
What are my treatment options?
There are many management options for disc injuries including medications, exercise, physical medicine, joint manipulation, spinal injections, and spine surgery. All have a place in disc injury management depending on the severity. Once it’s understood that compression is the main causative force involved in disc injuries, it becomes clear that some form of the opposite force should be a part of the recovery. Our office offers spinal traction, distraction, and now true spinal decompression with the gold standard DRX9000.
What is the DRX9000 and how does it help?
The DRX9000 is a non-surgical spinal decompression system designed specifically to treat disc compression injuries. The theories which started the development of the DRX9000 stems from observed changes in astronaut’s spines upon returning from space travel. The weightlessness from space travel minimized/eliminated spinal compression, resulting in significantly increased spinal disc height upon returning to earth. The possibility of a compressed disc decompressing was answered.
The DRX9000 applies decompression forces along a treatment curve to elongate the spine. The DRX9000 utilizes high-speed computers to calculate the amount of spinal decompression tolerable for each patient during the session. This minimizes the recruitment of muscles instinctively guarding the injured area which decreases decompression efficiency. The DRX9000 uses a motor/amplifier feedback system where the motor applies the forces while the amplifier checks (several thousand times per second) and adjusts the motor’s applied pressures. Additional measurement devices inside the DRX9000 monitors the changes in the total decompressive forces applied to the patient. All this data is fed back into the main treatment computer, ensuring that the treated patient receives the correct amount of decompression for that particular therapy session. Yes, each session will likely have a different therapy curve.
What Can I Expect During the Course of Treatment?
Each therapy session will last between 30-45 minutes. Setup requires strapping the patient into the system while the table places them into a horizontal position. The system will then apply the decompressive forces in intervals tolerable to the treated patient. The patient monitor can display graphs of the forces applied during therapy or, if you choose, can display a movie or just play music. Pain is minimal during therapy, in fact many of our patients fall asleep.
As patients show progress, the amount of load applied to the spine may increase on follow-up visits allowing a greater level of decompression to be applied to the injured disc. Treatment course for DRX therapy typically extends 24 sessions with improvements expected within the first 10 sessions.
Who will we be recommending DRX therapy for?
Initially, we will be recommending DRX therapy for severe disc/facet injuries, particularly for patients who may have experienced failure with other forms of medical care.
We recommend patients with a longer history of lower back injuries to bring in imaging studies on their first visit. MRI studies in particular are useful as the DRX9000 can target different levels of the spine depending on the injury location.
As always at our office, feel free to ask any questions you may have about your particular case. Your questions are always welcome here.
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Edgewater Rehab & Wellness
725 River Rd, Suite #102
Edgewater, NJ 07020
(201) 943-7768
info@drelee.com
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725 River Rd Suite #102, Edgewater, NJ 07020
(201) 943-7768 info@drelee.com