Gary Mills isn't sure how a bone in his spine slipped out of place so it digs into his sciatic nerve, causing him tremendous pain. But he's sure he doesn't want to have back surgery.
"I don't want to be cut back there," said Mills, 50, of West Bountiful. "I've heard a lot of horror stories about back surgeries."
According to the New England Journal of Medicine, 151,000 spinal fusions are done each year in America, even though back surgery has only a 30 percent success rate, according to Robert Park, a chiropractor at the Advanced Technology Spinal Center in Centerville (also known as Park Chiropractic).
In a standard spinal surgery, Park said, surgeons use rods and screws to prevent the damaged backbone from slipping out of place. The surgery immobilizes the disc, which, as a result, atrophies and degenerates because discs depend on movement to stay healthy. After surgery, scar tissue can build up around the disc and press on the nerve, causing the patient a great deal of pain. It's not uncommon for patients to go back for follow-up surgeries just to clean out the scar tissue.
However, Kim Cohee, a physical therapist with the University of Utah Orthopedic Center, said back surgery is proven effective given the right circumstances. For instance, a patient with a good social support system and a proficient surgeon can make a full recovery. But she emphasized even many surgeons call surgery a "last resort."
"You want to exhaust all your conservative alternatives first," she said.
One of the new innovations in non-surgical treatments is spinal decompression therapy. More than 10 years ago, NASA researchers noticed astronauts were relieved of lower back pain on space missions, Park said. They also found the space between discs lengthened in anti-gravity atmospheres.
With this information, researchers developed the DRX 9000 Spinal Decompression system. The equipment is said to widen the space between discs, which decreases intradiscal pressure while helping the disc reposition itself, eliminating protrusions like herniated discs that press on spinal nerves and cause severe pain.
During his sixth session with Mills, Park demonstrated the DRX 9000's technology. He fastened a harness around Mills' hips and attached a strap to a computerized pulley system. He pressed a few buttons and the strap slowly tightened. Shoulder supports held Mills' upper body in place as his lower back stretched and his discs decompressed. Within five minutes, the split table Mills was on indicated he was 2 inches taller than he usually stands.
"It feels good actually," he said. "It's just a gentle, steady pull."
Another piece of equipment based on NASA technology can treat misalignments in the spine, Park said. The ProAdjuster locates and treats locked joints to prevent subluxation from setting in. In a demonstration, Park pressed the ProAdjuster's two-pronged scanner on each joint of a patient's back and located the specific joints that were misaligned or "locked up."
Park then used the ProAduster's treatment feature to adjust the problem areas. The two-pronged head vibrated like a jackhammer on the patient's joint until it detected the locked joint, adjusted and relieved pressure on the nerve. Park said treating misaligned joints could take care of a majority of back problems.
"If we can keep the bones gliding, the patient will stay healthy," he said.
Some people assume that the back naturally deteriorates as part of the aging process. Although Park concedes everyone will suffer a misalignment sooner or later, he doesn't believe that back deterioration is inevitable.
"You're going to get locked joints because you live on planet Earth and planet Earth has gravity," he said. "Maintenance is the key to good health. People understand maintenance, but they don't understand it when it comes to your back."
Cohee said a majority of the back problems she deals with each day are caused by mechanical problems or a lumbar strain. These problems are easily handled through proper treatment and maintenance, she said.
Cohee also said a patient's non-surgical options reach beyond spinal decompression and readjustment therapies. An effective therapy includes aquatic training, which creates a zero-gravity environment that can ease acute back problems and prevent them from returning.
"If you can regularly unload the spine, you can do well without surgery," she said.
Core strengthening exercises help a patient protect and support the spine, but that doesn't mean a person can just do sit-ups and curl-ups to deal with the pain, Cohee said. Core exercises include hundreds of different exercises that teach people to use their lower abs and smaller muscles in the spine.
The most important factor in treating back pain, Cohee stressed, is to listen to your body as soon as it tells you it's hurting. Seeking help early can prevent recurrent problems from happening.
"If it's not getting better, seek professional help," she said. "Don't let it become a chronic problem."
E-mail: lois@desnews.com