Back Pain Problems

If you are having chronic back pain, there are definitely physical therapy and rehab programs that can help with your back problems. You might be suffering from degenerative (desiccated) disc disease or sciatica, or you might possibly have a slipped disc, a bulging disc, a herniated disc, or even a ruptured disc. These problems can be helped with physical therapy and procedures such as VAX-D. VAX-D treatments have been shown to decompress the nucleus pulpous of the disc to pressures below - 100 mmHg. This has been shown to create a diffusion gradient across the disc space. Oxygen and other nutrient cells then enter the disc at the end plate region. Thus therapy augments nutrient flow into the disc, facilitating structural restoration of the disc and promoting disc rehydration. These effects may be cumulative with repetitive therapy sessions.

The blood supply to the nerve roots of the cauda equina is sensitive to compression. Studies have shown that, even at pressures of only 5-10 mmHg, the flow in over 20% of the venules was completely stopped. Flow in all the capillaries stopped at pressures between 20 and 50 mmHg. A pressure of 30 mmHg is slightly less than one pound per square inch, so solute transport is easily reduced. Thus, even vertebral distractions (increased separation) of 1 or 2 mm per disc would reduce ligament redundancy and help to restore canal/foraminal patency, reduce venous congestion and increase axoplasmic flow. Furthermore, the effects of lumbar spine lengthening may be sustained for a period of time after lumbar distraction has been stopped.

Twomey placed lumbar vertebral columns removed from 23 male cadavers under 9 Kg of sustained traction for 30 min and measured an average increase in length of 9 mm. Thirty minutes after traction was removed, 13 of the 23 specimens had returned to baseline length, but the remaining 10 spines showed residual elongations ranging from 0.3 mm to 4 mm. Additionally, the data suggested that sustained traction had had a longer lasting effect on elderly spines. The mechanism of this residual deformation was not elaborated upon by the author, but disc rehydration may have been a factor since each column was soaked in normal saline and remained saturated by periodic additions of saline to a close fitting bag surrounding each column during the study.

That lumbar traction, if adequately applied, can effect physical change in patients suffering from back pain is well described by Gupta and Ramarao. They used water soluble contrast medium and epidurography to study 14 patients with prolapsed intervertebral disc syndrome before and after 10 to 15 days of continuous traction. Ten patients showed definite clinical improvement, with reduction in back pain and sciatica. Nine of these patients showed complete resolution of the defect on epidurogram and one of them showed partial reduction. The authors concluded that disc protrusion may be safely treated by traction. Mathews also demonstrated the effectiveness of lumbar traction in two patients by epidurography. Disc protrusions were decreased and an average vertebral distraction of 2 mm per disc space was shown in radiography. Judovich found that a traction force of approximately 26% of the body weight was needed just to overcome the resistance between the lower half of the patient and a table.

Intuitively, lumbar traction should be successful in alleviating many of the conditions which cause low back pain and associated radiculopathy. Unfortunately, studies of clinical efficacy have yielded equivocal results. Previously, the successful application of lumbar traction has been limited by patient tolerance and the design of mechanical devices. Patients had difficulty tolerating the forces needed to relieve pain if delivered continuously. Furthermore, the thoracic corsets worn by patients to prevent movement on the table were uncomfortable, restricted respiration, and can compromise venous return to the heart.

However, technological advances have now led to the development of equipment that has been found to achieve decompression of lumbar discs without stimulating the reactive reflexes of the lumbar musculature that can otherwise overcome efforts to effectively distract vertebral bodies. Chief among those technological advances has been the work of Dr. Allan Dyer, the inventor of a spinal decompression procedure called VAX-D. Multiple studies of VAX-D published in peer-reviewed medical journals have demonstrated the validity and efficacy of VAX-D's ability to successfully treat herniated discs, bulging discs, ruptured discs, sciatica, spinal arthritis, degenerative (desiccated) disc disease, and facet syndrome (arthropathy).

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