Spinal decompression therapy helps relieve back and neck pain caused by a bulging or herniated disc in the cervical spine (neck) or lumbar spine (lower back). The use of spinal disc decompression therapy leads to the reduction of pressure on the discs of the spine.
Spinal Decompression doesn’t work for all spinal conditions, but does have an effective rate for specific types of disc related issues. This type of passive treatment can relieve chronic disc problems.
At Shepard Pain and Performance Care we believe in active therapies. Specifically a form of active physical therapy called McKenzie Methods, which is offered by Dr. Shepard, is a fast and effective way of reducing disc related neck and back pain. Mckenzie Method is a systematic approach to the spine, that seeks understand the biomechanics of the spine and apply them to reducing back and neck pain.
The McKenzie Institue states; “By using this progression of applied mechanical forces (the cause) utilizes pain response (the effect) to monitor changes in motion/function. The underlying disorder can then be quickly identified through objective findings for each individual patient. The McKenzie classification of spinal pain provides reproducible means of separating patients with apparently similar presentations into definable sub-groups (syndromes) to determine appropriate treatment.”
McKenzie Methods seeks to treat three main types of spinal issues -> Postural, Dysfunction, and Derangement.
Defined Below As
Postural: End-range stress of normal structures
Dysfunction: End-range stress of shortened structures (scarring, fibrosis, n.root adherence)
Derangement: Anatomical disruption or displacement within the motion segment (All three mechanical syndromes – postural, dysfunction, and derangement – occur in the cervical as well as thoracic and lumbar regions of the spine.)