The patient has a thorough history of injury taken then
is evaluated prior to any decompression therapy for postural
imbalances, range of motion testing, muscle spasms or tightness, motion impairments, signs of
neurological injuries, and "directional preferences." Following the
history and examination the X-Ray or MRI is evaluated. With this
information a customized treatment plan is created.
The Typical Office Visit Includes: The treatment sessions
at our office first begin with therapeutic ultrasound therapy or "high
volt galvanic electrical stimulation" with moist heat. This is to make
the supporting spinal structures more flexible for the decompression and
to relax the patient. The patient is then positioned on the
Decompression Traction table and the amount of force is then calculated
based upon the patients weight and the age of the disc injury. The patient will feel a gentle pull up to the maximum
weight for under one minute and then it is relaxed by over 50% for a
short amount of time. The patient will feel alternating pulls for 12 -
15 minutes.
Following the Decompression Traction our patients are
instructed to stretch their spine using our Pettibon Hydraulic Wobble
Chairs to correct the motion impairments which predisposed the patients
to their disc trauma in the first place. Then if needed our patients
either get spinal adjustments or muscle trigger point release.
Customized treatment parameters include: The amount of force, the length of pull time (pull phase),
the length of the relaxation pull time (rest phase), the distance of
pull, and the angle of pull. The selections are all
determined by the practitioner instead of a pre-programmed computer for increased comfort, safety, and effectiveness.
Frequently
the patients will ask if the machine can pull harder because it feels
so good, but the goal of decompression is to pull nutrients and vacuum the disc bulge back into the disc
- NOT to stretch the relaxed spinal supporting muscles. Our table is
rated to pull up to 198 pounds, however we have not found any increased therapeutic benefit to
pull forces in excess of 40% of body weight up to 90 pounds because we do not want to harm your
disc. We
typically never apply more force than 35% of the patients weight for the
lumbar spine, and for the cervical spine the force is between only 15 to 18 pounds for females and 18 -
25 pounds for males.
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