New treatment for back pain

From 1 March, the Osteopathy and Manual Medicine Service at the Policlínica San José in Vitoria-Gasteiz, administrative capital of the Basque Autonomous Community, will have the very first Vertebral Axial Decompression Table in Spain. Patented by the North American firm, Vax-D, this will be the third table in Europe (they have just acquired two more in Great Britain).

The new table enables the treatment of problems of the spinal column, in the lumbar region, where there is acute and/or chronic pain caused by disc hernias, degeneration of the discs, posterior facet syndrome, discoarthrosis and sciaticas.

The treatment uses an exclusive system for the decompression of the intervertebral discs and the vertebral articulations, thus enabling the introduction of the herniated disc apart from separating the vertebrae to improve their functioning and to produce a stretching of the contacted muscles.

This system for vertebral decompression is what differentiates this treatment from any other system used for complaints of this kind.

The treatment has been successfully carried out in the USA for more than ten years and the equipment to arrive in Vitoria-Gasteiz in March will be the first in Spain. The technique has an efficacy rate of about 80%, depending on the pathology.

Over the last few years, Dr. J.C. Vicente, Director of the Osteopathy and Manual Medicine Service, has undertaken a thorough-going monitoring of the operation of the Vax-D in the USA, sending patients to be treated there with this method and, thus, confirming its efficacy and positive results. The experience was the motive for bringing the treatment technique to Vitoria-Gasteiz. It will be, in many cases, an alternative to surgery, thus reducing the risks inherent in the operation theatre as well as cutting the recovery time for patients with these complaints.

The treatment is painless and involves daily sessions of 30 minutes over a period of 20 days.