Question
My mom is 68 years old, and 2 1/2 years ago, she had spinal surgery which involved putting in a rod and fusing L4-5.She recovered very well from the surgery, and resumed all her previous activities until February of this year.  Now, she has a herniated disc just below the surgery and fusion site which is causing her great pain.  She has gone to see a chiropractor this week whom has recommended 25 sessions of decompression therapy.  I have been reading that her situation is a contra-indication for this type of treatment, but I can't seem to find out why is isn't recommended.  Her surgeon doesn't want to do surgery again at this point.  Can you please clarify WHY her situation would not benefit from this and/or what harmful effects it could have?  Thank you very much.

Answer
Kirstin ~

You have precisely described why spinal fusion surgery doesn't work. Each vertebra is supposed to bend and move freely on the vertebra above and below it. Fusion by definition means it doesn't move at all which transfers extra stress to the joint above and below the fusion resulting in an eventual failure of the disc at the adjacent level. As risky and as costly as this surgery is one would hope for more than 2 1/2 years of relief but in my experience this is the norm not the exception.

Spinal Decompression therapy was pioneered in Canada in the early and mid-1990's but not approved by the FDA in the United States until 2001. You are correct that most of these earlier studies cautioned against using the procedure for post-surgical fusions, but in the intervening 10 years as more experience has been obtained and the precision of the decompression tables has evolved that standard has been relaxed. Today most post-surgical fusion patients can be helped with little to no risk and certainly with less risk than a second surgery. I myself have helped scores of patients just like your mom. My record to date is 4 fusion surgeries which Roger would be happy to tell you about himself via You Tube video if you click here . For more information about spinal decompression therapy go to my website here .