Decompression

A New Approach To Serious Back Pain

Spinal decompression is a relatively new treatment for persons with serious back pain and many former back pain sufferers swear by it as the above video attests. Yet most insurance companies don’t cover this procedure. The result is many of these sufferers don’t get the back pain relief they are seeking and may turn to other solutions, even surgery, that prove to be ineffective. Here’s an account from two chiropractors who make a pretty compelling case for spinal decompression. And who knows what will be covered in the health care arena in the coming months!

We’ve been treating back pain in our San Antonio spine clinic for several years now, and one thing is for certain: chronic back pain is incredibly common and due to the failure of the typical treatments, a large number of people are living in pain needlessly.

The most commonly utilized treatments for chronic back pain have a poor success rate statisitically, but new treatment methods are now providing relief for even back pain sufferers who have suffered for many years.

One of these new breakthroughs that we use in our San Antonio office is spinal decompression. Spinal decompression is a high-tech form of spinal traction that reduces spinal disc bulging, enhances disc hydration and nutrition, and mobilizes spinal joints and connective tissue. When used appropriately, the results are often nothing short of amazing.

Unfortunately, spinal decompression remains underutilized as a back pain treatment for a couple of reasons. First, the early marketing for spinal decompression was often hype-filled and factually inaccurate. Although decompression is statistically the most effective treatment currently available for most serious types of back pain, the early marketing for it promoted it as a panacea for all back pain sufferers. Spinal decompression does enjoy an excellent success rate, but it is not effective in every patient and it is simply not appropriate for every back pain sufferer.

Another reason that spinal decompression continues to be underutilized for treating back pain is due to the usual challenges that all new health care procedures face in the United States.

Basically, insurance companies usually refuse coverage for health care procedures that do not have an established procedure code. In the U.S., the American Medical Association is responsible for producing the procedure codes, but they don’t make new codes until there are reasonably high numbers of doctors utilizing a given new procedure. Doctors are usually reluctant to invest the money in the equipment and/or training necessary to provide one of these new treatments unless they know they will be reimbursed for the treatment by health insurance companies. This brings us full-circle to the insurance companies not covering procedures that don’t have an established procedure code. Because of this system, most new medical treatments are not widely used for several years until consumer demand gradually pushes more doctors to start providing the treatment.

Because of the lack of insurance coverage for spinal decompression, many of the back pain patients we consult with at our san antonio spinal decompression clinic will opt to first pursue other treatment modalities that are covered by their insurance. Sadly, many of these patients go for months or years in pain, spending many thousands of dollars in insurance co-pays and deductibles on the standard back pain treatments without any results to show for it.

Many of these back pain sufferers finally opt for surgery looking for a cure for their symptoms. Statistically, about half of the patients who do seek a surgical treatment for their back pain discover that the surgery either does not help or makes things worse.

Although spinal decompression is not effective in every case, it does get good to excellent results for the vast majority of back pain patients. Some patients we’ve consulted with have opted to go the surgery route because they think it will be less expensive due to it being covered by insurance, but most back surgeries wind up being more expensive to the patient than spinal decompression.

What many back pain patients fail to realize is that the co-payments for a high-priced medical procedure like back surgery will usually run several thousand dollars. Even with no insurance coverage at all, spinal decompression typically costs the patient less out of pocket than an average back surgery, and a lot less than a complicated back surgery.

In most cases, spinal decompression is statistically the most effective treatment available and in the long-run is also usually the most cost-effective treatment available.

Other Relevant Posts:

Spinal Decompression Centers

Spinal decompression centers are places where patients with degenerative disc disease, herniated discs, protruded disks, foraminal stenosis, sciatica, spinal stenosis, facet syndrome, lower back pain, and post surgical back pain are …

Curing Chronic Back Pain with …

By sidestepping invasive procedures all together, spinal decompression offers a more affordable and practical solution to ongoing back pain. Traction therapy is fast becoming a popular method of spinal decompression that has proven to …

Spinal Decompression Or Back Surgery?

For people with severe disc-related back pain and sciatica, long-term relief can be hard to come by and the treatment options often come down to spinal decompression or back surgery. Each treatment option has its pros and cons, …

Treating Back and Neck Pain with Spinal Decompression.

Back pain and neck pain are two of the most difficult conditions to treat. Often times a patient may end up going to several different providers to get relief…

Non-Surgical Spinal Decompression Treatment

Spinal decompression therapy is a non-surgical treatment for chronic back pain. Decompression treatment works by slowly and gently stretching the spine, which takes the pressure off compressed discs, vertebrae, and pinched nerves. …

Dr. Ronald Fielden, D.C. and Dr. Michael Golab, D.C. are the treating doctors at South Texas Non Surgical Spinal Center. Visit their website for more about spinal decompression and their San Antonio back pain treatment program.

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A New Approach To Serious Back Pain

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