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Spinal Decompression Therapy Offers Noninvasive Treatment For Back Pain Relief

LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- Injury, age and poor posture can all contribute to herniated or bulging discs, which is a common cause of upper and lower back pain.

Treatments range from pain management to surgery, but some chiropractors are getting long lasting results with a new twist on a traditional therapy.

Acute back pain made 24-year-old Angus Wong of Irvine feel much older than he was.

"Sometimes at night when I'm asleep, I'll just wake up and it's like my own lower back attacking me. I was getting really tired of it because it hurt," Wong said.

Weightlifting and extreme sports led to a bulging disc that was pressing on Wong's nerves, resulting in radiating pain.

"He showed me these X-rays compared to a normal spine and wow! I didn't realize that my discs were out of place like this," he said.

"The disc is like a tire. So if you're speeding all the time and you're ripping around corners, that's going to wear out faster," said Dr. Jerome Melad, a chiropractor with Lee Chiropractic.

When pain management, physical rehab and steroid injections stop working, many patients turn to surgery.

But Melad said many of his patients avoid surgery with spinal decompression therapy. It's a modern twist on traditional traction. Patients are strapped to a table that stretches their spine, but what is different is that the software custom calculates the pressure and a pattern for releasing tension.

"With spinal decompression therapy, that traction or that pulling force is actually modulated. So it pulls to a certain amount and then it relaxes. What we're trying to do is we're trying to mimic the motion that the disk needs to hydrate itself. So it's pumping the disk in essence," he said.

While many orthopedic surgeons regard conventional traction as a temporary form of pain relief, Melad said for some of his patients, results have been long lasting, and it's a non-invasive way to heal naturally.

"You're creating what we call a vacuum or suction effect here, and it's going to draw fluid and protein back into that disc," said Melad.

Patients often require 12 to 24 treatments, running about $95 per session. For Angus, it was exactly what he needed.

"I can do the things I love now. Like I love playing basketball. I love lifting weights. And I can do that pretty much pain free," Wong said.

The treatment is not covered by insurance. Spinal decompression therapy is not recommended for patients with fused spines or bone loss.

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Decompression Therapy: What You Should Know About This Technique

If you're having pain in your spine, hips, knees, or joints, decompression therapy could be an option to help you feel better. This therapy can reduce pain without needing surgery.

Decompression therapy is a treatment that helps reduce pain from pressure on nerves by stretching out the affected area. This treatment may help if other treatments like rest, physical therapy, or acupuncture haven't helped.

Compression of the spinal nerve roots is a very common injury. But compression can also affect your hips, knees, and other areas where nerves interact with joints. This means that compression can cause severe pain that disrupts daily activities like sitting and standing.

Decompression therapy can often help relieve nerve pain without surgery, which reduces risks and recovery time. Read on to learn more about how decompression therapy works, when you'll know if you need it, and whether it's a safe choice to treat compressed nerves.

Nerves can become compressed for many reasons — from inflammation and injury to aging and bone loss around your joints.

Decompression therapy opens up the spaces in areas like your spine or knees where the spinal nerve roots pass through to reduce pressure on them. This can also help reposition joints and treat slipped discs so that you don't continue having severe or disruptive pain.

Mechanical traction can be used to provide spinal compression therapy. This involves manually opening up the spaces where spinal nerve roots pass through. Physical therapists or chiropractors typically perform this type of traction.

Another common therapy involves using traction devices — sometimes called nonsurgical spinal decompression (NSD) therapy. These devices basically perform a more advanced form of mechanical traction via a sensitive computerized feedback mechanism to decompress the spinal nerve roots through a process called segmental distraction.

There are very few reported risks associated with decompression therapy. Some reported side effects can include:

Some limited research also suggests that decompression therapy may be effective in reducing the symptoms associated with compression, but evidence is mixed.

A 2007 review of studies published between 1990 and 2006 suggests that there's limited evidence that routine decompression therapy is more effective than less costly alternatives with more research supporting them like exercise or spinal manipulation.

An older set of clinical guidelines published in 2012 looked comprehensively at various treatments for lumbar disc herniation with radiculopathy, including decompression therapy. Many treatments didn't have enough evidence to support their effectiveness, but nonsurgical decompression showed some promise in relieving pain and disability associated with compression.

A 2022 study looked at a small sample size of 60 people with herniated discs in their low back.

The researchers separated people into two groups — 30 who received decompression therapy and 30 who didn't. Results showed that decompression therapy helped noticeably improve symptoms in the group who received it, while the other group didn't experience any improvement.

Doctors At Karaikal GH Reconstruct Spine Of 13-year-old With Advanced Tuberculosis In Vertebra

CT scan showing bone erosion of the lumbar spine caused by tuberculosis in a 13-year-old girl treated at Karaikal Government Hospital.Photo Credit: Special Arrangement

Karaikal Government Hospital, in collaboration with specialists from Jipmer–Karaikal, have successfully reconstructed the spine of a 13-year-old girl from Poompuhar in Mayiladuthurai district, who had been left disabled by advanced spinal tuberculosis.

The girl had been suffering from persistent back pain for nearly a year and was initially treated with local medicines. Ten months ago, investigations at the hospital confirmed spinal tuberculosis affecting the L3 and L4 vertebrae. By then, pus formation and severe bone erosion had caused the L4 vertebra to collapse, leaving her unable to walk.

"She had reached an advanced stage where the infection had been cured under the Revised National Tuberculosis Control Programme with anti-tuberculosis therapy, but the bone erosion had destabilised the spine. Without surgery, her condition would only worsen," said N. Arulkumar, Assistant Professor of Orthopaedics and Trauma, Jipmer–Karaikal, who led the surgical team.

The surgical team included doctors G. Bhuvanesh and B. Vinoth Prabhu, and the anaesthesia team comprised K. Suresh, S. Omprakash, and K. R. Visalatchi.

The doctors performed spinal decompression and osteotomy, removing the damaged vertebra, inserting a cage filled with bone graft, and stabilising the spine with pedicle screws. "This restored stability, prevented further collapse, and gave her the chance to regain mobility," Mr. Arulkumar explained.

Post-surgery recovery has been encouraging. Within a month, the girl has regained nearly 90% mobility and returned to school. "From being unable to walk, she can now lead an almost normal life. She will need to avoid heavy weight-bearing for six months, but her long-term prospects are good," Mr. Arulkumar said.

He cautioned that spinal tuberculosis in children often goes undetected. "Unlike pulmonary TB, skeletal TB silently erodes bone and can cause permanent deformity if diagnosed late. Early detection and treatment are critical," he added.

Hospital's medical superintendent S. Kannagi said the hospital now had the infrastructure to handle such complex procedures.

Published - September 13, 2025 06:05 pm IST

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