If you read my last article, you know that I have been living with back pain for quite a few years. It has been on and off and for the most part; acupuncture and a good chiropractor have kept me in working order.

Since I was feeling so good, I decided to play some basketball with some guys from work. Well, I landed a little awkward after going up for a shot and really wrenched my back. I kept playing for awhile (yeah, I know; not a good idea) thinking that it would work itself out. Of course, it didn't. It just got worse and when I went and laid down to ease the pain I found I couldn't get up.

I made it home and took a bunch of ibuprofen; I have never taken any hard pain meds and don't ever want to have to do that. Since this pain was worse than ever I decided I needed to try something new. I had heard about the Vax-D Therapy before and even seen commercials on TV. I decided to look them up and give it a go. I have been getting the Vax-D treatment now for 3 weeks and feeling much better; but let me tell you what you can expect from the whole process.

First, you can expect not to be relieved from pain right away. I could not get in until 4 days after my injury and that was only for an initial exam. They did however get me right into an MRI which was just next door. They were booked pretty solid and they scheduled me for the Vax-D therapy starting in about 10 days. During this time, I went to my chiropractor for my usual treatment on the Cox table to get me by. The Vax-D plan seems to be universal and not tailored to a person's specific needs. By this I mean that everyone gets 20 treatments it seems. My schedule was every day for 2 weeks, then Monday, Wednesday and Friday for 2 weeks and then Tuesday and Thursday for 2 weeks. This is combined with physical therapy which is primarily the Cox excercises. On my first day, they did an EMG (I think that's what it is called) to test for any nerve damage. I have heard some horror stories about these nerve tests where they place needles into you to get to the nerve but this one was done using contact strips on the skin. It was, however, a little painful. Then it was on to my first round of physical therapy and then the Vax-D treatment.

So I was about to embark on this new treatment but I didn't have a strong comfort level with the personal attention to my case. I think the physical therapists have seen so many people with the same problems that all seem to get better from the VaxD that they just view it as a panacea and forget to take the time to explain everything to every new patient. Hopefully this article will help you out in this area! The VaxD table is simply a flat table with grips on one end and a pulley on the other. The table also slightly slides backwards underneath you to aid the stretching. The assistant will place a strap around your hips/waist to attach to the pulley and you grip the other end of the table. If you are too tall (as in my case) they will put a harness under your arms and hook the harness up to the grips. The session will last around 25 minutes and the machine will gradually pull a little harder. It is a strange feeling and you will probably feel like either trying to pull against it or move around a little, but I think the best thing is to stay as relaxed as possible. The machine gradually pulls on you for about a half a minute and then slowly releases back to normal. This repeats for the rest of the 25-30 minutes. Since I am using the harness on the top side I have nearly fallen asleep a few times.

It has been 3 weeks since my first Vax-D treatment and how am I feeling? Well, after the 3rd session I was feeling quite a bit better and then for some reason after the 4th session I felt a little worse. Then in the second week I started feeling better again. The main problem I was having was when I stood up after sitting for a long time. Now after the 3rd week I am actually feeling great. I would guess it is probably normal to waiver in the first few weeks. I feel like the best thing for me to do now is to keep up the physical therapy on my own even though I am not going to the back institute every day.

Well, I hope this has helped if you are thinking about getting VaxD treatment or if you are having severe back pain and unsure what to do. I will write more as I experience it!

If you haven't read it yet here is my article on Acupuncture and Chiropractic.

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