We sit way too long!
 Day in and day out, for many hours most of us are prisoners of our computers, our desks, and our desk chairs. Employees spend an average of 28 of a 42 hour work week seated. Since the computer became such a vital part of the jobs that we do, people's incidence of musculoskeletal pain has increased dramatically.
The tendency for many people is to lean and hunch forward towards our computer screens and not sit straight back into our chairs, where the spine has the least amount of compression. The seated position is one of the most common reasons that the spine becomes compressed. There is a 200% to 300% increase in pressure to the lower spinal discs in the seated position. When you lean forward in your chair the pressure increases. The least amount of pressure on the spine is in the recumbent or lying down position. Standing has half the pressure on the lowback spinal discs as sitting.
What do you do when the the spine becomes compressed and you are in pain? Non -surgical spinal decompression therapy is an effective way to not only get a patient out of pain but decompress and rehabilitate the spine. A patient is placed on a table and during the decompression phase (movement of the table) the pressure in the disc is reduced and a vacuum type of effect is produced on the nucleus pulposis (the inner layers of the spinal disc). At the same time nutrition is diffused into the disc allowing the annulus fibrosis (outer ligmamentous support of the disc) to heal. It is a very gentle movement that over time helps to free the pinched nerve and restores the mobility back into the spinal segments. The bottom line is it actually heals the patient and gets them back to doing all the active things they love to do.
I use flexion distraction decompression therapy vs. a typical spinal decompression table. What I like about it is that it takes less time and as new yorkers we all value the extra time that we can spend doing all the other things that are on our plates. It is also cheaper than traditional spinal decompression. Sessions for traditional spinal decompression therapy tend to be about double the cost of flexion distraction therapy.
In flexion distraction therapy the doctor has more control of the specific vertebral segment that he or she wants to decompress because the doctor's hand is used as a lever to traction the segment as the table moves down causing the spine to go into flexion. Flexion of the spine allows for 16 percent greater room for the nerves in the intervertebral foramen.
Flexion distraction therapy is effective in treating:
It can also help spinal stenosis. What patients like about it is the gentleness of the technique as it can be relaxing. As the table moves up and down it has a lulling effect on the entire body and mind. In certain cases I will use the table to stretch out the spine before i perform gentle manipulation of the spine, and i find it helps with the adjustment.
One of my patients came into the office very distraught. He was having pain down his right leg, and numbness and tingling in his big toe. He was having difficulty flexing his foot. His medical doctor ordered an MRI and a herniation of the fourth lumbar was revealed. His doctor encouraged him to go to an orthopedic surgeon and didn't encourage him to seek help from a chiropractor or other alternative health provider. He went to his surgeon who insisted he was a surgical candidate. He decided to get my opinion and I felt strongly that i could help him, but told him we would give it four weeks and if their wasn't any improvement he would have to go back to the surgeon.
He didn't have much improvement in the first four visits, but on the fifth visit he reported getting feeling back in his big toe and the pain didn't travel as far down the leg. In six weeks he reported feeling eighty percent better. It was a roller coaster ride for him during those six weeks, as he came into the office reporting the pain had returned a couple of times. It took him about eight weeks for a full recovery. He was quite grateful and I was excited that I helped him avoid surgery. He is on a maintenance plan of once per month to keep his discs healthy and to avoid immobility which would cause his spine to compress on the herniation again.
Patients often joke that they would like my flexion distraction table at home. Now if only our new york city apartments could fit one!
Healthfully yours,
Dr. Louis Granirer
Holistic Chiropractic Center
  
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