Spinal Decompression Vs. Back Surgery

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Spinal Decompression Vs. Back Surgery

Sunday, July 26th, 2009 Subscribe To Our Feed

People suffering from back pain and/or sciatica related to a bulging or degenerated spinal disc often have difficulty getting lasting relief, and they may be left with considering the options of spinal decompression or back surgery. While each has it’s benefits and drawbacks, different factors in different cases will ultimately determine the best treatment option.

There are some misconceptions about both spinal decompression and surgery that can lead to confusion when attempting to determine the best treatment option, especially when pain or medication may be disrupting the ability to think clearly. The following information will help to dispel some of the misconceptions regarding these forms of treatment and will assist pain sufferers in selecting which option is best for their circumstances.

Spinal decompression is an advanced form of traction, but it has very different effects on the spinal discs than regular traction. Due to computer-controlled motors, true spinal decompression systems can “trick” the muscles along the spine into staying relaxed during treatment, allowing for the creation of a suction force within the disc that pulls bulging disc material back inward and also enhances disc hydration and nutrition that will subsequently promote disc healing. Because regular traction systems must fight the muscles, there is far less of an effect on the disc, and regular traction is usually insufficient to produce any long-term relief of disc-related pain.

While spinal decompression is highly successful in treating most cases of disc-related pain, it is not 100% effective and there are situations in which it is contraindicated. In my San Antonio Spinal Decompression practice, it has been my experience that it is usually not very effective when a patient has a severe disc extrusion, or a full rupture of the disc, rather than just bulging. Spinal decompression is not safe to use when the patient has spinal instability in the are of the damaged disc. In cases where spinal decompression is unlikely to be effective and/or is contraindicated, surgery becomes the only real option for achieving good lasting results.

Surgery is not the ideal solution for disc-related back pain, although it is the only real option in a small number of cases. Although patients sometimes get the idea that surgery will “fix” the problem once and for all, this is often not the case. In fact, one of the leading predictors that someone will eventually need back surgery in the future is having had back surgery in the past. Although aggressive surgical techniques that involve removing a problematic disc will guarantee that a patient will not have any trouble with that particular disc again, these surgeries create other problems that over time can make things even worse than the original problem.

Abnormal wear and tear on adjacent discs due to altered biomechanics from the surgery and/or post-surgical scar tissue formation developing months to years after disc surgey can produce new areas of nerve and//or spinal cord compression and irritation. Due to the high probability of these post-surgical complications, it is my opinion that surgery should always be considered a last option when all other treatments have either failed or cannot be used due to existing contraindications.

To get more information on spinal decompression and back surgery, visit the Spinal Decompression San Antonio website to download your FREE 16 page report.

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