Relief for chronic back pain

Spinal decompression – does it work?

This morning, as many mornings before, many Torontonians creaked themselves out of bed with debilitating back pain, and struggled to get themselves going to face the day. Eight out of 10 adults suffer from low back pain at some stage in their life, and for at least three quarters of sufferers, the pain is chronic.

We share information about pain-free, non-surgical treatment, and tell you the success stories of four local residents.

Typically, a back pain sufferer first goes the over-the-counter painkiller route, visits their family doctor, sees a chiropractor, tries massage and acupuncture, or simply keeps a stiff upper lip. At some point when pain has become chronic and unabating, life has become miserable, you’re almost completely inactive, and you feel that you’ve tried everything, you may be referred as a candidate for back surgery. But it seems this is rather drastic and has no guarantee of success.

Three years ago, Christina (that’s not her picture above) had reached a crossroads in her pain cycle. Having suffered for five years with severe low back pain, she had deteriorated to the point where she could not stand, sit or move without severe pain across her back and down her right leg. She had loss of sensation in her lower right leg, and had lost 75% of her leg strength.

To add insult to injury, immobility in this formerly active 54-year old had resulted in weight gain of 15lbs, X-rays and CT scans and MRI showed multiple disc herniations and a complete absence of disc space in her lumbar spine. Her family chiropractor told her she had “bone on bone”, and he could not help her. The family doctor arranged an appointment with a neurosurgeon. Christina was miserable, brought to tears frequently by the pain, and now facing surgery. Life was grim.

Before succumbing to the surgical scalpel, she found help. Non-surgical, drug-free help.

Back pain can be debilitating, immobilizing, and affects quality of life in major – distressing – ways. According to the health site chealth.canoe.ca an estimated $50 billion is spent on back pain alone, annually, with workers’ compensation forking out $63.8 billion. These are huge numbers.
It gets worse. Bill Leonard’s article in findarticle.com states that six million people are estimated to see a medical doctor every year, and the cost of lost wages and medical bills can total up to $11.5 billion a year (not including workers’ comp). In 2009 alone, over 900,000 back surgeries were performed, with only 40% being considered successful williamschiropractic.com.
Neck pain isn’t much better, with 43% of the population suffering, costing anywhere between $50,000 and $163,000 in lost wages and compensation per sufferer. Last year about four in ten cervical surgeries were considered failures.

Not good numbers.

Today, Christina is more active than she ever was, has been completely pain free for three years and counting, and no longer wakes with a stiff, painful back. She feels she now has the spine of her youth, and has regained leg strength. To find out how this could be, without surgical intervention, we spoke to Dr. Richard Liem, the founder of the several Low Back Clinic centres that have sprung up around Toronto and the GTA in the past few years. Christina went to Dr. Liem for help in 2006, a life-changing moment for her.

Dr. Liem CSCS DC, is a chiropractor, a special one. He offers non-surgical spinal decompression – the real deal. This is not to be confused with spending time on standard traction units with breathing purified oxygen added on. No. Nine out of ten of his patients report success, meaning that an objective MRI shows rehabilitation of a herniated disc and the patient reports a subjective pain rating of below two out of ten (which would be muscular pain only). That means 90% of his patients leave his care rehabilitated and free of pain ready to kickstart their lives. This is what he told us.

Who comes to see you, and why?
I see people from all walks of life, male and female. They typically have either acute or chronic back pain with disc herniations, spinal arthritis, are on painkillers, and either have failed back surgery or are about to have surgery. They have usually tried everything else, and come to me in a lot of pain with numb or tingling arms or legs, and often with pain radiating down one leg. Some have acute injuries, others have been suffering for years. Whatever the case, they have generally tried everything else, to no avail.
I get a lot of referrals from medical doctors who are not satisfied with other treatment protocols. They want to get their patients off surgical lists and off medications, which only mask the pain and are often addictive.

What is the therapy like?
First we have to do a thorough examination – physical, neurological and using MRIs. We have to turn away about a third of the people that come to see us, because there may be too much damage or a lot of shifting in the spine. After we do a thorough assessment on each patient to determine whether Low Back Clinic can help them, we customize a treatment protocol for each individual that targets the specific part of the spine that is causing the problems.

We use state of the art technology in the DRX9000 – the best (and most expensive) technology on the market. Its computers monitor patient response continuously during treatment to ensure it’s pain-free. We generally schedule 20 treatment sessions over a five-week period, and we initiate specific exercises at different stages in the treatment to ensure proper stabilization and to provide long-term correction. We also use a purpose-designed but comfortable back brace that the patient wears between therapy sessions on the DRX9000 to take the compressive load off the back between visits.

After the five weeks of 30 minute sessions on the DRX9000, use of the brace as well as strengthening and stablilizing exercises continues for a further month.

How do you manage patients’ expectations?
We explain that most people feel a positive response – which would mean reduction in pain – within between six and 12 visits (Christina told us she was gloriously out of pain after only five visits). Though the discomfort may disappear quickly, the stabilizing process takes time, and so completing all 20 visits is vital. Committing to the strengthening exercises and wearing the brace between visits are crucial, also.

What is the most important thing for anyone to know about spinal decompression therapy?
We help people with low back pain as well as those with upper back problems. Subjectively speaking, a patient’s response in the neck area seems faster because there is less load than in the lower back.

It’s painless, it’s safe, and it’s effective. This is a long-term correction, not a temporary Band Aid. Low Back Clinic has the best technology on the market today. We brought the DRX9000 to Ontario, and we’ve been helping people for several years, so we have a great track record.

Real life successes

Diane Alton: Cervical spine patient who completed care three years ago.
“I have been suffering with severe neck pain and tingling/burning down my arms for about 15 years. I was diagnosed initially with a pinched nerve in my neck because of degenerative disc disease. The pain was so intense that my quality of life was gone and I was unable to do anything.
My family doctor gave me a lot of pain medication. I started with Tylenol 3 but as my problem worsened, I eventually was wearing a morphine patch (which I wore for the last two years prior to having treatment at The Low Back Clinic).
Prior to having treatment at The Low Back Clinic I had tried massage therapy, chiropractic, acupuncture… everything, but nothing worked. The pain was always there and it was getting worse. When I was sent for a surgical consult, the doctor said that the damage to my neck was so far gone that I was no longer a surgical candidate.
However, a friend of mine who also had suffered from severe neck pain told me that she went The Low Back Clinic and was now completely pain free. In fact, she is now able to play tennis – which she hadn’t been able to do in years.
So I decided to and see what Dr. Liem had to say. He was very thorough in explaining the procedure and told me what he could do for me. So I underwent care immediately and I was amazed. Within only 3 visits I could feel a change. By the 20th visit, I was completely pain free and I no longer needed to take any medication. My burning in my arms went away and the strength of my arms returned! Now my quality of life is back to 100% and I can do anything without a second thought.

Darlene Anderson: Lumbar spine patient who finished care 30 months ago
In 1974 I was in a serious car accident and sustained back injuries that plagued me for years. These injuries became increasingly worse as the years went by. In 2006 I was contemplating back surgery when I heard of the Low Back Clinic. I went in early July for my consultation with Dr. Liem. I admit I was a little skeptical at first but Dr. Liem’s enthusiasm was infectious and I was sold.
I started treatment at the end of August that year and have not looked back since. The treatment itself is very easy on you. I actually napped a few times. When the treatment was finished I noticed a huge improvement in my pain level and mobility. With each passing day my back grew stronger and stronger with no pain. I am now completely pain free and every day I thank my lucky stars that I went through with this treatment. I now do things I wasn’t able to do before plus I do everyday chores – that once brought me excruciating pain – totally pain free. Anyone who has a back or neck problem owes it to themselves to check out The Low Back Clinic it changed my life and it could change yours.

Sam Paglia: Lumbar spine patient two years ago
I came to The Low Back Clinic because I had chronic severe back and
sciatic pain for 20 years due to severe disc deterioration of my L4-L5
disc. My quality of life had deteriorated to the point where I could no
longer walk for weeks at a time. This would come and go many times a year. Prior to coming to The Low Back Clinic, I had tried chiropractic and Shiatsu and was scheduled for back surgery to have my spine fused.

I have to say that when I came to The Low Back Clinic I was very skeptical about the treatments. How can you reverse 20 years of damage in just 30 days? But it was my last resort before surgery and now it’s been 2 1/2 years since my treatment and still no pain. I am once again able to do most of the activities that I could before my treatment – even hockey.

If I could describe my experience at the clinic, I would have to say that I was treated with concern and respect – like a friend or a family member and not like a pay cheque.

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