Back and neck pain are the number one complaints in North America, affecting 80% of us at one time or another. These problems often mean a permanent loss of some function, forcing us to give up things in life no one should have to give up. The highly advanced SpineMED® is a NON-SURGICAL, DRUG-FREE procedure that is EXCEPTIONALLY COMFORTABLE. It offers hope where other decompression* systems fail.
Your spine must be stable to support upright posture, and also flexible, allowing you to bend and twist. This is mechanically very challenging and makes your spine vulnerable to injury.
The spine is made up of a chain of bones, called vertebrae, which are connected together by ligaments and muscles. The vertebrae cover and protect the spinal cord, which carries sensory messages to and from the brain, controlling all your body functions.
A disc separates each vertebrae and acts like a cushion, absorbing shock along the spine. The disc is made up of jelly like substance known as the nucleus, covered with many strong outer layers called the annulus. The discs do not have a supply of blood vessels to nourish and replenish them, rather, they depend on a transfer of fluids, nutrients and oxygen from the bones (vertebrae) above and below them. This transfer of fluid depends on the difference in pressure between the inside of the discs and the surrounding vertebrae and blood vessels. This is why most disc nutrition and regeneration takes place when we lie down and the pressure inside the discs is reduced. This process is not very efficient, and as we age, the disc is exposed to wear and tear greater than its ability to heal and regenerate.
The discs are prone to injury and degeneration as we use our backs each day, as they are compressed and torqued through sitting, bending and lifting. In the two lower levels of the lumbar spine, stress forces can equal 2,000 to 3,000 pounds of pressure per square inch. Repeated injury weakens the annulus, while the earliest changes that occur in the discs are tears in the annulus. With increased pressure inside the disc, the tears in the annulus may allow the disc to bulge like an old tire with a broken casing. Any internal damage to the disc may cause severe pain in the back. If all of the layers of the annulus break, the jelly-like nucleus will ooze out of the disc, causing a disc herniation. A bulging or herniated disc may press on spinal nerves, causing sciatica, which can be felt as weakness in your muscles, loss of sensation in the skin or a tingling or burning sensation along the nerves in your buttock and legs.
Repeated episodes of injury results in the degeneration of the disc, which becomes stiff and dry, causing it to lose its shock absorbing properties. This process may continue until the disc is collapsed, which increases the mechanical pressure on the bones and joints lending to arthritis (facet syndrome).
Most low back and neck pain can typically be managed through traditional treatment options such as rest, over the counter pain medications, other pain management therapies, physical therapy, chiropractic care, and even nontraditional treatments such as acupuncture.
However, discogenic pain caused by a damaged or degenerated spinal disc can be intractable. For these cases, addressing the underlying disc problem may be the only answer to lasting relief.
Unfortunately, the goals of most traditional treatment options focus on symptoms, the spine, or the structures around the spine. They do not directly address injured disc itself.
It is widely accepted that the ideal environment to heal a damaged spinal disc is to decompress, or reduce the intradiscal pressures of the damaged disc. In fact, decompression is the goal of many spinal surgical procedures.
Fortunately, there is now a procedure provided with the goal of decompressing the spine Non-Surgically.
SpineMED®, the world’s leading non-surgical spinal decompression system, is designed to target and decompress injured intervertebral discs through distraction and positioning of the lumbar or cervical spine comfortably – without the use of ropes, harnesses or pulleys. It is Licensed by Health Canada, FDA Cleared and provides a non-surgical, drug-free option for patients suffering from spinal disc problems like:
Non-surgical decompression has shown to be safe and effective for patients suffering from discogenic pain. Click here to see if you are a candidate for the new procedure.