Lakewood Chiropractic is one of the premier chiropractic, acupuncture and massage therapy clinics i: VAX D: The Non-Surgical Treatment for Back Pain

By Dt. Steven Warfield

Many people have at one time or another experienced the onset of debilitating back pain. It could be the result of anything from trying to lift a heavy object to playing with their children. All of a sudden there is a searing pain and then the body no longer functions as it should. Trying to stand up or in some cases even walk is all but impossible. A trip to the doctor’s office for x-rays and then an MRI reveals a herniated disk. In the past this prognosis most often meant surgical intervention and a long recovery. But modern advances in medical technology have produced an alternative to going under the knife for many people.

VAX-D to the Rescue

Called vertical axial decompression therapy, VAX-D treatment begins by having the patient lie face down on a computer controlled table. The patient, who has donned a pelvic harness, grasps two handgrips. To begin treatment, the table separates slightly stretching the patients ba

English: Example of a herniated disc at the L5-S1. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

ck. Therapy consists of alternately stretching and relaxing the spine in order to relieve pressure. The handgrips allow the patient to halt treatment at any time by merely releasing the handgrips. .

Developed by Dr. Allen E. Dyer MD, VAX-D was developed specifically to treat herniated or degenerated disks by lowering spinal pressure to create a partial vacuum that can then retract the disk. Many times even a large protruding disk can be retracted to where it is supposed to be using this treatment.

How Effective is VAX-D?

The inventor of VAX-D, Dr. Dyer, recommends that patients only engage in nothing more strenuous than walking during the month following treatment. He also states that, “If patients receive this treatment five days a week, for a month, 70% of them will be free of pain. What do they do when it's done? They go skiing. Dumb!" he says. “When the pain is gone, that doesn't mean the fracture is completely healed. Exercise does nothing for an intradisk lesion or a herniated disk. What it does is put stress on a disk that's trying to heal."

What Makes VAX-D Different?

Mechanical traction has been used for decades to treat herniated disks. Conventional traction uses two harnesses, one for your chest and the other for your pelvis. Using a percentage o

Stages of Spinal Disc Herniation (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

f your body weight to pull the bones apart, some treatments use a static pressure while others rely on intermittent pressure. The problem with traditional traction is that the chest harness is uncomfortable. Add to this the fact that traditional traction can cause the muscles to tighten in an attempt to resist the stretch. VAX-D eliminates the chest harness and produces results by creating negative intradiscal pressure that creates a vacuum unattainable by traditional traction or inversion tables. VAX-D also differs from traditional traction in that the patient lies face down, which helps coax the discs back into place, since disc protrusions are most commonly posterior. It also utilizes intermittent periods of traction with gradual increases of force.

Typical treatments last anywhere from 20-45 minutes. The recommended regimen for treatment is 24 sessions over the treatment period, followed by a maintenance program.

Is VAX-D the solution for you? Ask your chiropractic physician. But for those who suffer from chronic back pain, this is one non-surgical option where the only thing you have to lose is pain.

Dr.’s Steven Warfield and Dave Edenfield offer the most advanced treatments for back pain, sciatica, neck pain, whiplash and headaches. They also treat auto accident victims with state-of-the-art technologies. If you or anyone you know suffers from herniated discs, degenerative discs or spinal stenosis, visit http://www.lakewoodchiropracticjax.com/& http://chiropractor-jacksonville-fl.com