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 traction, patients now have a non-surgical option to relieve the nonstop pain they have been experiencing.
Traction puts negative pressure on each disc to alleviate the pressure and pain associated with compressed discs. When a disc is compressed, the disc material moves from its place between each disc 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 disc to create room for the material that is crowding the nerves. Traction eliminates the source of the pain, therefore eliminating the need for risky spine surgery and the subsequent months of down time post surgery.
Treatment time and frequency will depend on each patient’s unique condition; however, each traction treatment is usually about twenty minutes. Patients usually have treatment a few times a week, and are typically finished with treatment within eight weeks.
If you are living in pain from a herniated or bulging disc, we will work with you to find a treatment plan that corresponds with your body. Instead of turning to dangerous pain medications that just cover up the problem, ask us if traction can help you.