Non-surgical spinal decompression is a motorised traction table. You lie down, a harness is fitted at the pelvis and, for neck work, at the head, and the table applies a slow pull along the axis of the spine — then eases off, then pulls again. A treatment is a cycle of that, usually fifteen to twenty minutes.
The intent is to lower pressure inside the disc for the length of the session, so that a bulging or herniated disc is under less load and the tissue around it has a chance to settle. It is delivered here under Chiropractic care, and it is almost never the whole plan — it sits alongside hands-on treatment and the Physical Therapy that has to hold the result once the traction stops.
Three different things share the word decompression, and patients arrive having read about the wrong one.
A laminectomy or discectomy, done in an operating room, in which bone or disc material is physically removed. That is a different procedure with a different recovery, and we are not describing it here. If you have already had one and the pain came back, see post-laminectomy syndrome.
A hands-on, high-velocity movement of a specific joint. Fast, manual, and over in a second. The table is neither fast nor manual.
What this page is about. Slow, machine-controlled, repeated over a course of visits.
It comes up most often for disc-related back and leg pain that has not settled with hands-on care and exercise alone:
The examination and any imaging come first, because there are spines this should not be used on at all — among them a recent fracture, spinal hardware or a fusion, severe osteoporosis, a tumour, and pregnancy. If any of those apply we will say so and we will not put you on the table. That decision is made by the examining clinician, not by the machine.
We would rather tell you this at the start than after you have paid for a course of visits.
The published evidence for mechanical decompression is thin and mixed. Medicare’s own national coverage determination on vertebral axial decompression concluded there was insufficient scientific data to support the benefits of the technique, and on that basis does not cover it. Some patients get real relief from it; the research has not established that it beats simpler traction or a good rehabilitation programme.
So we treat it as one option among several rather than the centrepiece of a plan, we set a short review point rather than selling a long package up front, and if it is not doing anything for you by that point we stop and change the plan. If a clinic anywhere promises you a guaranteed result from a decompression table, that is a claim the evidence does not support.
Medicare does not cover non-surgical spinal decompression. That is a national determination, not a local one, and it applies whichever clinic you go to. Medicare does cover manual spinal manipulation by a chiropractor for a diagnosed subluxation, which is a different service.
Commercial plans vary, and many treat it the same way. We verify your benefits before anything starts and tell you what the visit costs, so nobody finds out afterwards. If your plan will not pay and you would rather not self-pay, say so — there is usually a covered route at the same clinic that gets at the same problem, and we will lay it out. More on coverage generally is on our insurance page.
Every clinic below has chiropractic, physical therapy, acupuncture and pain management on one chart, so care can move between them without a new referral.
Downtown out through the north, west, south and east suburbs.
Academy, Interquest and Tenderfoot cover the north, central and south of the city.
Harmony in Fort Collins and our Greeley clinic serve Larimer and Weld counties.
Across the Valley, from the West Valley through Phoenix to the East Valley.
No. Nothing is cut and nothing is removed. It is a motorised traction table that pulls gently along the spine and releases, repeatedly, for about fifteen to twenty minutes. Surgical decompression — a laminectomy or discectomy — is a different procedure done in an operating room.
It should not. Most people describe a stretch through the low back and, quite often, that they were comfortable enough to doze off. Some soreness afterwards is normal, in the way it is after any new stretch. Sharp or radiating pain during a session is not normal — tell the clinician and the pull is stopped or reduced.
It is a course rather than a single visit, and it is usually a few visits a week for several weeks. We set a review point early on rather than selling a long package in advance, because if it is not helping by then the right move is to change the plan, not to book more of the same.
All of them. Every one of our 22 clinics across Colorado and Arizona has a decompression table, so you can be seen at whichever location is closest to you — Colorado (720) 749-5599, Arizona (602) 325-2024.
Medicare does not cover it. Commercial plans vary and many do not either. We verify your benefits first and quote you the cost before you start, and if it is not covered we will tell you what else at the same clinic would be.
Not to be seen. A few insurance plans require one for certain services, which is something we check when we verify your benefits.
Generally no, and that is one of the things the examination screens for. A fusion, spinal hardware, a recent fracture, severe osteoporosis, a tumour and pregnancy are all reasons not to use a traction table. There are other ways to treat the pain, and we will go through them with you.
Non-surgical spinal decompression is available at all 22 Mountain View Pain Center clinics in Colorado and Arizona — see the full clinic map, Colorado or Arizona.
