Pain Management

We are dedicated to improving the health and function of our patients. We do this by combining traditional chiropractic care with modern technology to deliver an unprecedented level of service. Our safe, therapeutic services include modern chiropractic care, cervical and lumbar non-surgical spinal decompression, and Active Release Techniques (ART).

Spinal Decompression is a  NON-SURGICAL TREATMENT FOR LOW BACK PAIN... Using the DRX9000™

In the past, a patient suffering from disc problems may have been prescribed pain medications, instructed to refrain from physical activities, referred for physical therapy, received injections, and when they weren't progressing, they were sent for spinal surgery. Conservative chiropractic care proved very helpful in many cases, yet there have been some cases when surgery seemed to be the only other option... until now.

Today, you may not have to live with that pain anymore. The DRX9000™ was developed to non-invasively treat lower back pain resulting from herniated, bulging, or degenerative discs. The DRX9000™ enables patients to return to more active lifestyles.

The DRX9000c is an excellent choice for patients who have failed to respond to conventional neck pain therapies such as medications, physical therapy, and chiropractic. 
Spinal decompression helps suffers of:
•    Herniated Disc
•    Degenerative Disc
•    Bulging Disc
•    Sciatica
•    Posterior Facet Syndrome
•    Low Back Pain
•    Neck Pain
•    Spinal Decompression
•    Non-surgical Spinal Decompression
•    Accident Injuries

Click here to view a complete description of the DRX9000C Spinal Decompression System and see if you qualify for this Treatment.

Is it safe?
Click here to view recent research on the DRX900C that proves the effectiveness and safety of spinal decompression; precise computer-controlled feedback technology delivers the right amount of decompression without causing pain or injury. Previous attempts to deliver spinal compression through manual manipulation failed due to the lack of control over the amount and duration of decompression. Using the DRX9000C, decompression is precisely controlled and delivered over a course of treatments, resulting in gentle restoration of normal spinal anatomy and therefore improvement over a short period of time.

What about spinal surgery?
Patients with neck and back pain due to disc problems are often referred to neurosurgeons that will not operate unless there is evidence of motor (strength) or sensory (numbness) impairment or disability.
More than 95% of patients referred to neurosurgeons for neck and back pain are not candidates for surgery, and are usually referred back to their doctors for conservative care consisting of physiotherapy and other treatments that may not be especially effective. In addition, many patients have chronic medical problems that make them poor surgical risks, and cannot have surgery due to the stress of the anesthetic, surgery and immobilization following spinal surgery, not to mention the complications of infection, blood clots, stroke and heart attack. Spinal decompression avoids these complications and is far more effective than traditional physiotherapy and rehabilitation procedures.

What about injections?
Affinity Pain and Stress Management Clinics offer ultrasound-guided injections to treat osteoarthritis, facet joint syndrome, and chronic muscle pains or injuries, however spinal decompression is a non-surgical, non-invasive and drug free procedure that is effective in the treatment of back and neck pain.

Published Study on Spinal Decompression Systems:
Aviation, Space, and Environmental Medicine – Vol. 80, No. 3 – March 2009
[242] INCREASED DISK HEIGHT FOLLOWING NON-INVASIVE SPINAL DECOMPRESSION

C. APFEL (1), A. MACARIO (2), C. RICHMOND (3), S. JOHNSON (4), AND J.V. PERGOLIZZI (5)
1. University of California at San Francisco, San Francisco, CA; 2. Stanford University, Stanford CA;
3. NEMA Research Inc., Miami Beach, FL; 4. Axiom Worldwide, LLC Tampa, FL; 5. Johns Hopkins University, School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD

 INTRODUCTION: Astronauts frequently experience back pain during space flight, affecting to perform their duties.  The mechanism contributing to the back pain during microgravity is the lack of axial compression on spinal structures, resulting in stretching of the spinal cord, cauda equine, nerve roots, and paraspinal tissues.  In order to elicit this microgravity-induced response in clinical studies, investigators use 6-degrees head-down tilt (HDT).  As has been shown, HDT with balance traction (HDT-BT) is a more efficient (faster) method of studying microgravitational effects than using traditional horizontal bed rest (HBR).  The aim of this study was to investigate whether a standardized treatment protocol using non-invasive spinal decompression increases disc height; therefore, simulating spinal changes seen during microgravity.  METHODS:  Patients with chronic musculoskeletal, mechanical or discogenic low back pain (LBP) underwent a six-week course of non-invasive spinal decompression treatment using the DRX 9000.  Data were retrospectively collected from lumbar spine CT scans taken prior to and after the intervention.  To increase accuracy and minimize random error, the differences were calculated for each spinal level (L3-4 to L5-S1) and average for each patient.  Since a treatment effect was to be evaluated using before and after data, a paired t-test was applied to test the hypothesis.  RESULTS:  Thirty-one patients (22 female, 9 male) were studied, with an average age of 65+-15yrs and a history of LBP for an average of 14+-20 weeks.  After 6 weeks of treatment the average lumbar disc height was increased 7.5(1.7) to 8.8 (1.6)mm, (p<0.001).  DISCUSSION:  A significant increase in disc height was seen after 6 weeks use of non-invasive spinal decompression in patients with LBP.  More studies are needed to determine if head-down tilt plus spinal decompression (HDT-SD) reproduces the spinal elongation seen during microgravity and if this can be done more efficiently than head-down-tilt plus balanced traction (HDT-BT).
Learning Objectives:
1  The relationship between non-invasive spinal decompression and increases on disk height is    described.