A group of researchers at Johns Hopkins set out to understand how clinicians are managing low back pain with non-surgical spinal decompression. They did this because approximately 25% of LBP in the past three months. Spine-related pain is the second most common reason for a visit to a physician. The current evidence-based guidelines recommend conservative treatment for at least two months and often for much longer before a surgical option is considered. Surgery is associated with many risks, and the outcome in patients with discogenic spine pain is often unpredictable.
There is also unpredictability with conservative trials care. There are currently many different types of treatments that are being used to treat spine pain. Nonsurgical, spinal decompression, appears to be the most successful, conservative treatment. This type of treatment aims to relieve pain by enlarging the intravertebral disc spaces, which decreases the pressure inside of the discs which can help suck, bulging or herniated disc material back into the center. The case report at hand explores the use of the DRX 9000 nonsurgical, spinal decompression protocol for the management of chronic low back pain and a 69-year-old patient who has been having spine pain over the past year.
This patient reports that the pain has progressively worsened over the past two months with radiating pain into the buttocks and legs, as well as a burning sensation down both legs and into the feet. This patient was it was unable to stand or walk for longer than 15 minutes and had a significant disruption in their sleep. An MRI showed disc protrusions at all five lumbar levels with associated degenerative changes throughout the lumbar spine.
This patient underwent 22 nonsurgical spinal decompression treatments over a seven-week period. Prior to treatment, this patient reported a pain level of 10 out of 10. At the end of the treatment, the patient reported a one out of 10. This patient stated that they no longer felt the burning sensation in their legs. An MRI follow-up study showed decreased herniation size and increased disc height at multiple disc levels within the lumbar spine.
Evidence-based data that show promising effects of nonsurgical spinal decompression on the safe and effective treatment of spine pain continue to accumulate. This case report builds on previous findings that have demonstrated improvements in disc morphology after treatment with nonsurgical spinal decompression. This patient experienced significant pain relief, protrusion, reduction, and space enlargement with nonsurgical spinal decompression.