Spinal decompression is a new type of traction that is used in the treatment of disc protrusions and degeneration in the lumbar and cervical spine. Spinal decompression has had quite a bit of controversy surrounding it since it first started gaining popularity in the United States. Some of the controversy is related to overzealous and perhaps even fraudulent claims that were made by some spinal decompression equipement manufacturers in their eagerness to gain market share, and additional controversy has come due to large amounts of ignorance and confusion regarding the differences in the treatment effects between regular spinal traction and spinal decompression.If you can get past the controversy and consider the merits of spinal decompression objectively, it is clear that it is a reasonably good treatment option for disc-related pain and disability. It is not the miraculous cure-all that is has been touted as by its promoters, but it is not the over-hyped scam that its critics have claimed either. As with many things, the truth about spinal decompression is somewhere in between the two extreme points of view.

Some experts who have failed to look beyond their preconceived ideas have concluded that spinal decompression is no different from the regular spinal traction that has been used for many years in spine pain treatment with minimal benefits. But if one takes a closer look at the evidence, it is clear that there are distinct differences between regular traction and spinal decompression in both the physiological effects and the long-term treatment outcomes.

With regular traction treatment, the traction system pulls on the spine at a set rate and force. Spinal decompression systems pull very gradually and slowly build up the force over time, with the more technologically advanced spinal decompression systems also being able to monitor and react to the body’s reactions to treatment. As an example, the DRX-9000 spinal decompression system monitors the body’s resistance to the traction and if the body begins to resist the pull, within 1/17th of a second, the machine will decrease its pull and give to the resistance. This adaptive feature of the machine keeps the body’s muscles relaxed during the majority of the treatment and this allows for much greater effects on the spinal discs than what is possible with standard spinal traction machines, and even the less advanced spinal decompression machines.

Studies have shown that regular traction does reduce pressure in the spinal discs, but not enough to reduce disc protrusion nor enough to significantly improve the hydration or nutrition to the disc. Muscle resistance limits the effects of regular traction too much for it to produce significant benefits to most disc patients. The basic spinal decompression systems are a significant improvement on regular traction because the machine pulls gradually and avoids much of the muscle reaction and resistance, allowing for some retraction of disc bulging. High-end spinal decompression systems provide even greater effects on the discs because they can largely eliminated muscle resistance. These machines have been consistently shown to produce strong suction forces within the discs that result in good retraction of protruding disc tissue back towards the center of the disc and produce an influx of fluid and nutrients into the disc that are thought to assist in disc healing.

Despite the overall effectiveness of spinal decompression, it does not work for every patient. Some situations prevent the use of spinal decompression, but even with properly screened patients, there are some cases in which it does not help. Some published studies have indicated a success rate of nearly 90%, but the real-world success rate is not that high. Researchers have the advantage of being able to choose only the most ideal of test subjects and can remove test subjects who do not follow the treatment protocol precisely. When dealing with real-world patients, various complicating factors may be present and not all patients cooperate perfectly with their prescribed treatment.

With good patient screening, the true success rate for spinal decompression under real world conditions is probably closer to 70% by itself, and somewhat higher when combined with other forms of treatment. This success rate has proven to hold up long-term, and only a small number of patients are reported to relapse within a year of completing treatment. Even with the more modest success rate of 70%, spinal decompression is overall more effective than the more common treatments of spinal injections and surgery, which various studies have shown to provide long-term positive results in about 50% of cases.

The effectiveness of spinal decompression treatment for a specific patient will depend greatly on the nature of his or her condition. In general, spinal decompression works very well in cases of mild to moderate disc protrusion and/or degeneration. Disc extrusions (actual ruptures) and severe protrusions will sometimes get favorable results with spinal decompression, but the results are far less reliable than with less severe cases. Spinal decompression works well for patients of all ages. In fact, although some patients fear they are too old to get good results, my experience has been that older individuals actually do somewhat better than their younger counterparts, perhaps because the older patients are less likely to engage in heavy exertion that might cause a re-injury of the discs.

Is spinal decompression a legitimate form of treatment for bulging and degenerated discs? Yes. Will it be of benefit to you? Most likely it will be, assuming you are a suitable candidate for this form of treatment. I think it is important to temper your expectations though, because it is definitely not a sure-fire “cure” for your problem. I do recommend that people with disc-related pain at least try spinal decompression before considering a spinal surgery, and most who do will be able to avoid the surgeon’s knife. Even better, those people who do respond favorably to spinal decompression treatment can usually resume almost any activity they wish, while surgery patients are often limited in what they can do for the remainder of their lives.

Although is is far from a perfect solution to disc-related pain, spinal decompression is a good treatment option for most people with protruding and/or degenerated spinal discs.