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Spinal Decompression for Lower Back Pain: What to Expect
Your spine is responsible for supporting your body and keeping you upright. It’s made up of multiple small bones called vertebrae, along with ligaments and disks that keep it flexible. A tunnel called your spinal column runs through these bones and disks and holds all your spinal nerves.
The lower portion of your back only contains five vertebrae, which is fewer than even your neck contains, and they’re responsible for a lot of heavy lifting. Your lower back carries the entire weight of your upper body, making it incredibly vulnerable to acute injuries and slow spinal degeneration.
Because of this, chronic lower back pain is a common issue affecting 23% of adults around the world deal. Living with lower back pain for longer than three months can be incredibly frustrating and really wear on your mobility and quality of life.
At Pinnacle Sports Performance and Rehabilitation in Austin, Texas, Ryan Anderson, DC, Logan Reiff, DC, Michael Bhatt, DC, understand how frustrating it can be to deal with chronic lower back pain, especially when traditional treatments haven’t given you the relief you need.
We offer spinal decompression therapy as an innovative and alternative technique to address chronic lower back pain. Let’s explore how this treatment works.
Understanding spinal decompression
Spinal decompression is actually a term that refers to a series of treatments that seek to take pressure off your spine and subsequently relieve pain. Some are noninvasive and others are surgical. The main goal of spinal decompression is to address the root cause of your lower back pain rather than mask or manage only the symptoms.
At Pinnacle Sports Performance and Rehabilitation, we use several nonsurgical methods to create more space between vertebrae and spinal discs. These techniques can also reduce inflammation and allow healing oxygen and nutrients to flow freely to the pain site.
Our spinal decompression options include chiropractic adjustments, cold plunge therapy, and infrared sauna therapy, which are natural and medication-free choices.
Spinal decompression works to address common causes of chronic lower back pain, including:
- Herniated or bulging discs
- Sciatica
- Spinal stenosis
- Pinched nerves
- Degenerative disc disease
- Arthritis of the spine
It can also address chronic pain that’s due to an acute injury that hasn’t healed properly.
What happens during spinal decompression?
For best results, we highly recommend combining our spinal decompression methods. Let’s explore each one:
Chiropractic adjustments
During a chiropractic adjustment, our team manually manipulates your spine to put it back into alignment. You lie face down on a table for the entirety of the session to allow your chiropractor to manipulate your discs and vertebrae.
Cold plunge therapy
Cold plunge therapy involves submerging your body in a tub of ice cold water. By placing your body in such cold water, inflammation is reduced and blood flow is increased, both of which can reduce pain and encourage healing.
Infrared sauna therapy
Infrared saunas differ from traditional saunas because the infrared lights heat your actual body rather than the air around you. This means it can operate at a lower temperature while still encouraging your body to improve blood circulation, get rid of toxins, and reduce pain.
Get started with spinal decompression
No matter what’s causing your lower back pain, spinal decompression can alleviate pressure and inflammation that’s causing pain and keeping your body from healing properly. Learn more about this innovative series of treatments and if it might be right for you by scheduling an appointment over the phone or online today.