It’s no secret that our lives have become increasingly inactive. Many workers sit at desks all day, then come home to sit on the couch and watch TV. Unfortunately, this lack of movement and poor posture puts much strain on our spines and can lead to pain and other issues.

Enter the team at Corrective Chiropractic. Our chiropractors often use decompression therapy to help relieve this pain in the back and neck. The treatment works by gradually stretching the spine using a traction table or similar device.

Keep reading to find out how decompression therapy works and if it’s the right choice for you.

Chiropractic care practitioners provide decompression therapy as a nonsurgical approach for treating back and other joint pain. It involves using a machine to provide negative pressure to a specific area to help stretch the spine and alleviate strain on the discs and nerves.

The standard process involves a series of sessions and lasts anywhere from 30 to 60 minutes each. Typically, a chiropractor will have you lie on a table throughout the procedure and use a machine that delivers this negative pressure. You may feel slight tugging during the therapy, but it shouldn’t hurt.

The treatment provides several advantages, including better flexibility and range of motion, less inflammation, and enhanced blood flow and oxygen for an injury. And according to research, decompression may help speed spinal cord injury healing.

A chiropractor uses decompression for several conditions, including:

• Back or neck discomfort

• Sciatica

• Degenerative disk disease

• Bulging/herniated disks

In addition, it may help treat damaged spinal joints (posterior facet syndrome) and spines or ill spinal nerve roots. If you suffer from these conditions, we encourage you to speak with your doctor about possibly undergoing decompression.

Decompression is not suitable for everyone, as certain conditions would make this treatment dangerous. It includes:

• Pregnancy: The therapy setup could put unnecessary stress on the abdomen and harm the developing fetus.

• Fractures: If you have any fracture in your spine, it could worsen it.

• Tumor: If you have cancer in your spine, it could spread cancerous cells throughout your body.

• Aortic abdominal aneurysm: Lying flat on your back with straps around your waist could put too much pressure on this blood vessel and cause it to rupture.

• Persistent osteoporosis: Decompression could cause bones in your spine to break under the added pressure.

• Metal spinal implants: The magnetic field used during this procedure could interact with metal in undesirable ways.

Decompression offers many advantages when appropriately administered by medical and chiropractic care specialists. It includes enhancing the spine’s range of motion, lessening inflammation, and providing pain relief for back or neck discomfort and diseases.

However, decompression is not a substitute for traditional medical care for severe disorders. Instead, consider it an extra alternative when used with other forms of care.

Contact the team at Corrective Chiropractic to learn more about our decompression therapy and book an appointment!