Back Pain Conventional Treatments
|
Spinal Decompression is a very misunderstood term. When most people think of spinal decompression they immediately think of "traction" and the horror stories that surround this ancient therapy. There are actually many types of spinal decompression therapies. For this discussion I'll also talk about inversion tables and manual distraction because these are the most common and most used.
Traction is by far the most popular spinal decompression technique but it is also the one that scares me the most. The are many stories told of this process going bad and actually causing more harm than good. Many physical therapists and chiropractors will have this piece of equipment in their offices. There are two harnesses - one for your chest and one for your hips. The external force can be easily controlled, and the device can be set on continuous or intermittent pull. The machine actually pulls you from opposite ends thereby decompressing your spine. Typical treatments will last anywhere from 10 to 20 minutes. On each subsequent visit, the amount of pull should be increased by 10 pounds.
The next method is manual distraction. This method seems to be the favorite technique of massage therapists because it allows you to put every single joint under manual distraction - from the fingers to the spine. Now when I say manual distraction, I mean that someone has to do the pulling. While pulling on a finger is easy, pulling to distract the spine is not. So, if you decide to have a health care professional work on your back using manual distraction, understand that their strength and skill level will determine how effective they are going to be.
The last, and also my favorite, is an inversion table. This practice of hanging upside down to apply gentle traction to the spine has been around for more than 2,000 years. It is based on the principal that when you invert your body, the amount of weight pulling on each level of your spine is directly proportional to the amount of force needed to produce proper alignment. The concept is very simple and so logical. The weight of your head exerts just the right amount of pull for your cervical spine. The weight of your head, neck, chest, shoulders and arms is exactly the right amount of combined weight needed for the thoracic spine. The same is true for the lumbar spine. The weight of your entire upper body provides just what's needed to cause spinal decompression, reversing gravity and creating the negative pressure between each vertebra that will suck the misaligned disc back into place.
CLICK HERE to view a video explaining inversion therapy and how it can help to decompress the spine for lasting pain relief.
CLICK HERE for a FREE GUIDE on how you can use Muscle Balance Therapy™ to get long lasting pain relief from back pain completely on your own... |
|
|
|
|
