Treatments

Decompression Distraction Manipulation

Decompression distraction manipulation was discovered by John McManis, D.O., an osteopathic physician, for the use of low back pain disorders and used by Alan Stoddard, D.O., in his book, Osteopathic Techniques, in the early 1900's. James M. Cox, D.C., D.A.C.B.R., a chiropractic physician as well as a chiropractic radiologist was introduced to this technique by his father, John Rodman, D.O., D.C., in the late 1960's. Dr. Cox then further invented and developed, as well as refined, the technique for a specific gentle non forced procedure for neck and low back pain.

This manipulative technique has been thoroughly researched and taught by Dr. Cox and others and has written well received articles and chapters in other text books as well as his own.

The mechanism of this procedure, when it is done with the patient in a prone position and the treating physician concentrates on one vertebral motion segment at a time. The goal is to reduce stenotic effects by dropping the intradiscal pressure to allow disc reduction, increasing the size of the neuroforamen and lowering pressure on the nerve root. The physician uses the instruments caudal section to allow lateral and circular motion which returns normal motion to the spinal joints and reduces pain. The cervical spine can be treated similarly using this specially designed table. This decompression distraction manipulative technique creates a push, pull, pumping effect on the three joint complex. The benefits of this technique is as follows: 1) Increases the intervertebral disc height to remove tension on the anular fibers and the spinal nerve by making more room and thus improving circulation, 2) Drop the pressure within the nucleus pulposus of the intervertebral disc, 3) Increases the area of the neuroforamen up to 28%, 4) Restores the spinal joints to their physiological relationships of motion.

Decompression Distraction Manipulation is a manual therapy technique that has been researched extensively by the cooperation of federal grants with cooperation of the National University of Health Sciences as well as the Loyola University School of Medicine and these projects did reveal that this specialized technique proved to be very efficient on cervical and lumbar pain disorders.

Many of the conditions that are appropriate for this technique are as follows: Lumbar disc herniation, cervical disc herniation, thoracic discherniation, spondylolisthesis, stenosis, degenerative disc disease, facet syndrome, pelvic pain, headaches, compression defects, loss of ROM, whiplash type injuries, mild to moderate osteoporosis, back pain caused by pregnancy, spinal segmental dysfunction, mechanical back pain, osteoarthritis of the spine, patients who are unable to tolerate vigorous manipulation and failed back surgical syndromes.