Democko Chiropractic| Jacksonville chiropractic care | NC |

Until you experience a back injury, you have no real understanding of how debilitating it is. Virtually every movement uses one of the back or adjoining muscles. Back pain sufferers experience numbness, weakness, and reduced functioning of the limbs. Back pain interferes with work, sleep, and relaxation as well. If your injury progresses to the point where the disc material moves into spaces occupied by nerves, you are facing back surgery…well until now that is. With the inception of the DRX9000 and the ABS spinal decompression machines, patients now have a non- surgical option to relieve the nonstop pain they have been experiencing.

The technology today appears to be a dream come true for those who suffer with compressed disks. Some may say that it is too good to be true, but research indicates that 92% patients report overall improvement; of these, 5% improved 25-50%; 17% improved 50-75%; 70% improved 75-100%. (Gose, Naguszewski & Naguszewski , The Journal of Neurological Research, Volume 20)

As more people are experiencing relief and full recovery using the technology available, this dream becomes a reality.If you have tried with chiropractic manipulations, physical therapy, drugs, and do not want to assume the risks associated with back surgery, then spinal decompression is the next logical choice.

What is spinal decompression?

There has been much information in the media recently about the merits of spinal decompression.  In order to appreciate the merits of the new technology, you must first understand the condition it treats.

Spinal decompression puts negative pressure on each disk, to alleviate the pressure and pain associated with compressed disks. When a disk is compressed, the disk material moves from its place between each disk, into the space occupied by the sensitive nerves. When the nerves become crowded, the patient experiences great pain and pressure. This pain is not alleviated by even the strongest of pain medications. Many times, the condition warrants the use of highly addictive medications, such as morphine to mask the pain long enough to give the patient some relief. Long term however, the risk for addiction increases, while the source of the pain is untreated.

Surgery attempts to treat the condition by shaving the part of the disk to create room for the material that is crowding the nerves. Spinal decompression eliminates the source of the pain, therefore eliminating the need for risky spine surgery and the subsequent months of down time post surgery.

 
What is the DRX9000?

The DRX9000 is an innovative technology that uses spinal decompression to treat various spinal conditions. It is being hailed as a state of the art alternative to invasive and risky back surgery. Axiom Worldwide developed the technology and it has received FDA approval for treatment of back pain. The DRX9000 is effective in treating herniated discs and degenerative disc disease. It has also shown to be effective in treating sciatica. It should be noted that not all patients are good candidates for the DRX9000. Your chiropractor will evaluate each patient independently.

The DRX9000 uses traction to slowly and gently elongate the spine to increase the intervertebral disc spaces. The process is precise, which eliminates the risk for additional injury. The machine is computer controlled and programmed by a trained professional.

The treatment usually takes two weeks of daily sessions, and then 3 weeks of 2-3 sessions. In several clinical trails, 86% of the test subjects reported immediate resolution of their pain following treatment. Of those 86%, 90% reported lasting pain relief beyond 90 days. Non-surgical spinal decompression therapy has been studied and discussed in several academic and industry papers.

Project Briefs: Back Pain Patient Outcomes Assessment Team (BOAT). In MEDTEP Update, Vol. 1 Issue 1, Agency for Health Care Policy and Research, Rockville, MD, Summer 1994.

Thomas A. Gionis, MD, JD, MBA, MHA, FICS, FRCS, Eric Groteke, DC, CCIC, Spinal Decompression, Orthopedic Technology Review Nov/Dec 2003, Vol. 5, No. 6

ABS spinal decompression machine

The ABS system is a state of the art spinal decompression machine. The ABS machine treats disc bulge and herniation, disc degeneration, sciatica, spinal stenosis/arthritis and facet syndrome. The machine is computer controlled. The technician enters the treatment plan for the patient. The computer safely monitors the patient status. The ABS machine offers 4 different decompression programs. The ABS in unique in that it considers the diagnosis and spinal tolerance for each patient.  Negative inter-discal pressure is applied, which allows the herniated disks to be restored to their natural state.

The treatment consists of daily 20-minute sessions over a 5-week period. Relief is usually experienced after 6 treatments. A follow up study on the outcomes of decompression therapy found that, 71% of patients showed more than a 50% reduction in pain immediately after treatment, and 86% showed a 50% or better pain reduction at four years. After four years, 52% of respondents reported a pain level of zero. (Anesthesiology News, March 2003)