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 tumor, 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 program.
So we treat it as one option among several rather than the centerpiece 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.
Mechanical decompression is a traction treatment applied to the spine. It is not appropriate during pregnancy, where there is a fracture in the spine, where a tumor or infection involving the spine is known or suspected, in severe osteoporosis, or where there is spinal hardware such as fusion instrumentation or an implanted device at or near the treated levels. An abdominal aortic aneurysm rules it out as well.
It is also the wrong tool for pain that has no mechanical pattern. If nothing you do changes the pain — if it is the same lying down, sitting and walking — traction is unlikely to be the answer, and the more useful step is working out why the pain is not behaving mechanically.
And it is not an alternative to urgent care. Progressive weakness, a foot that is dropping, numbness in the groin or inner thighs, or any change in bowel or bladder control needs assessment now, not a course of treatment.
This is a non-invasive treatment and the risk profile is correspondingly low. The usual experience is muscle soreness for a day or so after the first few sessions, in the way that any new loading produces soreness.
Occasionally people get an increase in their pain during or after a session. That is worth reporting rather than pushing through: it usually means the setup needs adjusting, and occasionally it means decompression is not the right treatment for that spine. Either way we would rather change course early than complete a course that is not helping.
The genuine risk with this treatment is not physical. It is spending months and money on something that is not working because a long package was bought up front. That is why we set a short review point instead, and why the evidence section above is on this page at all.
Spinal decompression is available at every Mountain View Pain Center clinic in Colorado and Arizona. Every clinic has a decompression table, so you are not sent elsewhere for it.
That matters for a treatment delivered in a course rather than a single visit. You should be able to go to the clinic nearest your home or your work without the plan changing, and you should not have to travel to a procedure site for something that does not need one.
If a different step turns out to be the right one, the interventional procedures are performed in office at Northglenn, north Colorado Springs, Mesa and Glendale, and any clinic can arrange that for you. Spine injections are also performed at Lowry on specific days.
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 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 tumor 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.
Yes. The table is one part of a plan that usually also includes Chiropractic care and Physical Therapy, and the providers work from one chart so the sequence is decided together rather than in separate appointments.
Non-surgical spinal decompression is available at the Mountain View Pain Center clinics in Colorado and Arizona — see the full clinic map, Colorado or Arizona.
