Dr. Mike Williams, O'Fallon Spinal Decompression

What is Spinal Decompression?

Spinal Decompression is a revolutionary new technology used primarily to treat disc injuries in the neck and in the low back.

What conditions does Spinal Decompression treat?

Spinal Decompression is very effective at treating bulging discs, herniated discs, pinched nerves, sciatica, radiating arm pain, headaches, and facet syndrome.

What will I feel?

For your low back, you will be lying comfortably on your back with a set of nicely padded straps snug around your waist and another set around your lower chest.

For your neck, you will be lying comfortably on your back with a pair of soft rubber pads behind your neck.

The computerized system will slowly pull on this unit just a few pounds. It holds it there for about 30 seconds. Your body, in essence, says, “Well, that’s gentle,” so the muscles around your spine are able to relax. Then it pulls a little more, then a little more, until it gets it up to the full amount of pull. At this point, it will hold it there for about 30 seconds, then drops it down to about half that pull for another 20 seconds; back up for 30 and down for 20, for a total of about 12-15 minutes.

How does Spinal Decompression work?

The pumping action described above does two amazing things:

As the Spinal Decompression table pulls on your spine, it gently separates the vertebrae from each other, creating a vacuum inside the discs that we are targeting. This vacuum begins to suck the bulges or herniations back into the inside of the disc, and off of your nerve root. It happens only microscopically each time, but cumulatively the results are quite dramatic.
Also, this pumping action pumps nutrient-rich fluids from the outside of the discs to the inside. These nutrients enable the torn and degenerated disc fibers to begin to heal back up.
Only a few years ago, it was thought that once a disc was degenerated, there was nothing you could do. Now we routinely see discs gain one to two millimeters of sustained increased disc height. While this may not seem like much, it can make all the difference in the world for your nerves.