Twin Cities Back Pain

That was the question I was just recently posed. In fact it gets asked in a variety of ways such as…

“Can you get hurt while doing the treatment?”

“Will it make you worse?”

“Has anyone been paralyzed?”

“Can you die from this treatment?”

“What if I get worse?”

You know, those are all legitimate questions, but basically all the same. Here’s what I can tell you. I can honestly say that with hundreds and hundreds of patients I’ve only had a few negative reactions. I had a few people who’s pain or numbness has increased temporarily. I’ve had 2 patients that got some spasms on the table, but then recovered from them within a few hours (yep, only 2). I had a guy that got a headache every time he got his treatment for the first 4 treatments, and that’s about it.  

No paralysis. No serious injuries.  Spinal Decompression is very safe.

We do both lumbar and cervical spinal decompression at our office. However, there are many more cases of lumbar disc herniations than there are cervical disc herniations. I think the ratio is about  5 to 1.

Some of the conditions we treat with spinal decompression are as follows:

• Lumbar disc herniations
• Cervical disc herniations
• Lumbar disc bulges and cervical disc bulges
• Lumbar disc disease and cervical spinal degeneration
• Lumbar and cervical spinal stenosis
• Cervical and lumbar facet syndromes
• Sciatica
• Cervical and Lumbar Radiculopathy

Most of the patients we treat actually fall asleep during the 30 minute decompression sessions.

The treatment is very relaxing.

I have many friends that are doctors that perform spinal decompression also…and I have never heard first hand of a serious injury from decompression therapy.

So is spinal decompression safe?…YES. Is spinal decompression effective? YES.

Should you try spinal decompression and will it help you? That’s for you to decide…but just know that nonsurgical decompression has an excellent safety record. It’s certainly worth a look.  Just give us a call at (651) 255-2527  to schedule your complimentary consultation appointment. It will only take about an hour to find out if this procedure is right for you!

                          Now This Is Just Too Good To Be True!

 Add excuse here.

 Bottom line…It sounds too good to be true.

No matter how much research, testimonials, examples, or whatever it just sounds too good to be true. Well, it isn’t.

Yes, there are failures with this treatment just like anything else, but why wouldn’t you take a risk on a procedure that has an excellent track record, has little to no risks (mainly due to improper usage), is affordable, and gives you lasting relief in most cases? People risk a lot more with surgery, or heck, even injections (even though injections are pretty minimal risk).

We’ve had people with multiple surgeries, numerous injections, and pain for not just months, but years and have been able to help them. Perhaps you would be the same. Does our secret treatment formula really work EVERY time? No, of course not, now THAT would be a bill of goods. It works most of the time, but there are still times that we think we can help, but we don’t, and guess what, we refer them out. Usually for surgery. Best part is, the patient is not locked into treatment, doesn’t have to pay for the program if they continue or not (can you believe some places do this?), and will get a referral directly from me to someone who’s a very skilled doctor or surgeon. You have to keep in mind this is only for those that I accept into the program. We get a large number of consults a month and every month about 20% of them cannot be helped by what we do. Simply put, they are not a candidate and will not be treated in our office. Instead they are given the necessary referrals and we can shake hands and I wish them the best of luck.

Surprised? Some are. Why, I have no idea. They must have had a bad experience with another doctor previously and felt like they were being “sold” or told they “needed” something. In fact, I thought about contacting a number of consults that met with me that were told that this method would not help them. I’d like to get some testimonials from them saying…”hey, this doctor only had my best interests in mind. He didn’t sell me anything. And he told me the truth about my back”. I know I can get a bunch of them, might be something I need to do. That way when someone says…”This is too good to be true”. I can pull out the testimonials from those who were not candidates. So you can see, no, it’s not too good to be true, at least not for you.

Here’s another ironic thing. I get more referrals for my program from my failures than I do my successes. Yep, it’s true. I think it’s because they know they were treated the right way. The way I would treat one of my own family members or friends, and they loved it. No, it didn’t fix their problem, but we still did right by that person.

Hope this shows you that no, it’s not too good to be true. But maybe it will be true for you. Hope it is.

Dr. Jeff Lavell

ps: Give us a call at our office if you wish to chat more about your case with our free consultation offer. This is a one on one with me, no strings attached where you can learn more about your case and what you have wrong. Hope to see you! Our number is (651) 255-2527, or check us out more at www.SpinalDecompressionOfMn.com to learn more.

Spinal Stenosis.

The words make many people cringe. I’ve dealt with many, many cases of spinal stenosis. Sometimes it’s a real bad case, sometimes not so bad. I think the term itself is misunderstood. Let’s take a look at what the defination is to some real authority, this is taken from Spine Health.com and they are probably the leader in spinal education. Yep, I endorse them, and not just because I was selected to be listed in their provider database! Here is what they have to say about it:

Spinal Stenosis: Generally developing slowly in the later years of a person’s life (usually past fifty), spinal stenosis occurs when the spinal cord in the neck (cervical spine) or the spinal nerve roots in the lower back (lumbar spine) are compressed. Symptoms of lumbar stenosis often include leg pain (sciatica) with walking, as well as tingling, weakness or numbness in the legs. Arm pain is the typical symptom of cervical spinal stenosis.

Definition of stenosis: A stenosis (plural: stenoses; from Ancient Greek στένωσις, “narrowing”).

Narrowing, that’s the key. It is not defined, and that’s where we come in.

If you have been told you have spinal stenosis or foraminal stenosis, you most likely have had an MRI or cat scan of the lumbar spine. X-rays can also help determine if there is “bony” spinal stenosis (from degeneration)…but an MRI is the gold standard as it can allow your doctor to look at both the soft structures such as the spinal discs and nerves, as well as the bony structures.

A common symptom of spinal stenosis is what’s called Neurogenic Claudication, which results in cramping or a feeling of weakness (and difficulty walking) from nerve compression/inflammation in the foramen, usually when standing. This is because when you stand, the vertebrae compress and if there is something in the foramen that should not be there, it can pinch the nerve. Usually, it will feel better when you sit.

So what can be done…do you need back surgery for spinal stenosis?  

It all depends. It depends upon just what is causing the stenosis. In my experience there is often a combination of factors that have lead to the stenosis. Many times it’s from a bulging or a herniated disc. If this is the case we generally have good results with a case like this with our unique DRX-9000 formula.

What if it’s from a combination of degenerative changes as well as from a disc injury like a bulge or herniation? Well, this is a tougher case, but often one that responds nicely with DRX-9000 NSSD treatment.

How about if it’s only due to degenerative changes? Well, these are the least likely to respond. Sometimes doing things to reduce the inflammation that occurs around the area can help temporarily…that’s why cortisone injections are so often recommended as they can give relief for a period of weeks or months. (certainly won’t fix it, but can be a good relief option for many). I’ve also had results with the use of cold laser, and things that reduce inflammation like high dose fish oil and GLA (gamma linolenic acid), as well as some herbal formulations (Boswellia Complex and Saligesic from Mediherb have done well for me). Usually when it’s boney stenosis the person is probably looking at surgery unless relief can be achieved conservatively and can be maintained.

Maintaining it can be the tough part. But hey, what’s the risk in trying? Nothing. Can’t always say the same for surgery, or even injections sometimes. By the way,  just in case you are wondering, boney stenosis candidates ARE NOT typically candidates for DRX-9000 NSSD treatment. Usually we educate the patient and try to have other things happen that might help manage their condition. DRX-9000 treatment will not typically be used. But…(there’s always a but isn’t there), we have had a few people that begged me to take their case since they were looking at fusion, and well, unfortunately that surgery has a pretty high complication, risk, and failure rate (sometimes this is the only choice patients have and they have to get this done, but hopefully it never comes to that). But if you DO need surgery we have a wonderful referral team of excellent surgeons and I would be happy to proved their information to you.

Oh yeah, back to the subject at hand…So did it help them?

The answer: Yes and no. Decompression can’t do anything about the degeneration or bone spur…but it can help enlarge the disc space, elongate the spine and reduce inflammation of the nerve and soft tissues. All of these things allow the nerve to have more room, and provide relief.

Will this last? Who knows…but at least it leaves you whole and able to try other treatments if symptoms return. It’s also very safe and gentle.  If you are overweight and you go on a weight loss program and start some exercises after successful nonsurgical spinal decompression it may last forever. Hey…you can always have surgery. But once you have spinal fusion you can never try nonsurgical spinal decompression (if there is metal involved, bone fusion only can still get treatment).

Hope this sheds a little more light on things for you.

This is a great question that I hear all the time. It’s one that people hear so much different advice on. So do annular fibers heal?  The Answer…

YES

But often not the typical way that you think that they would. Research shows clearly that for all essential purposes the disc is an avascular structure (there is some very limited blood supply) and it’s the lack of blood supply that makes it so difficult for the disc to heal.

Research by Osti and the “Volvo Award-Annual Tears & Disc Degeneration” shows this phenomenon quite clearly. Typically it’s the outer 1/3 of the disc that heals with this scar tissue. It’s that  nature that prevents the disc from fully healing in many cases (or the inner 2/3rds). That’s what I tell all the patients that I deal with that have already had surgery (about half the patients I work with). It’s not that the surgery didn’t work, it did in most cases. It just never healed right from the lack of vascularization, and it’s not that the inner part of the disc cannot heal. It can… the research shows that it’s just really tough to do.  Now here’s where what we do is so different. By addressing the lack of movement that occurs, and making that our focus with decompression we can have excellent clinic results as well as fairly consistent pre and post MRI changes.

Research has shown that by creating a negative pressure into the disc (similiar to sticking an empty turkey baster that has its bulb squeezed down into liquid and then releasing the bulb…and therefore sucking up the liquid) water can then be pulled into the disc. It is theorized that this negative pressure and hydration also helps the healing process of the disc, making the scar tissue more effective. It is an amazing process by which your body can heal, and it’s amazing to see on a daily basis.

So, what’s the time frame of healing for these fibers? Well, research has shown that a disc can heal on it’s own. In fact I tell patients that research shows that you can wait for up to 6 months, and 1/2 of those people will heal on their own, the other half will require some sort of treatment. Of course when you are 10/10 pain even with medication it makes it pretty daunting to wait, and you can most certainly seek intervention long before those 6 months. But in general you can expect that once you get some healing occurring that it can be up to 18 months before the full process is completed.

So next time you hear about annular tears and you think all is lost…Think again! There’s hope, and still plently of options left on the table, even if you have already had surgery.

Check out more at www.SpinalDecompressionOfMn.com or call (651) 255-2527 for a complimentary consultation.

“Is That My Annular Fibers Tearing?”

Everyday I’m humbled to be working with the people I do. I often have people present with such pain and problems and they’ve been EVERYWHERE that their skepticsm gets in the way of rational thinking. I mean, if you could have an option over surgery (sometimes surgery IS necessary) don’t you think that it would be worth it?

I often hear excuses as to why they should or shouldn’t do this or that. I recently had a gentleman that I believed needed PT and chiropractic over a program like we do, he didn’t want that. He wanted to do something else…reason? His neighbor is a PT and he cannot stand his neighbor, so he didn’t want to do PT. Does that make any sense?

I also hear other things as well,  just as odd. I had a woman who told me that the only reason she kept doing the drugs and not seeking anything else is because her insurance paid for the drugs 100% and if she did anything else she would have a co-pay. This was a woman whom by all accounts wasn’t living paycheck to paycheck, had a great career and a supporting husband who also had a good job. After I convinced her to get the MRI… her back was shot! Next stop, the surgery train. She’s got no choice. She started crying, and saying she shouldn’t have been so dumb. I didn’t know what to say, because I agreed with her. I mean you can’t take those co-pays with you when you die. Plus, this gal was so miserable with pain that she was living NO life. Yeah, you have saved money, but at what cost? You could be using those saved co-pays to be taking a vacation, instead it’s going to be fusion and probably 6 months of not much. I hope and pray that it works for her.

Lastly, I just wanted to say that I was humbled recently by a long term patient. She injured her back really bad for the first time in 5 years. She could hardly walk. She had tears streaming down her cheeks. It breaks your heart when you see that. We did our thing and I was happy to report that yesterday, just 6 days later from the initial injury she was “95%”. She gave me a wonderful thank you card, she gave me a big batch of Christmas cookies 2 days before that. Plus she gave me a gift card to go to lunch! It was awesome. Totally unnecessary. But she wanted to express her gratitude for seeing her over the weekend to make sure she got well as quickly as possible. Hey, you gotta do what it takes right? How can I ethically KNOW that there is more to be done and then just say “oh well, I gotta sleep in on Saturday”. Not at our office. It’s all about results and doing what it takes to get well. Her appreciation is why I do what I do. I love it. I feed off of it.

So if you have a back or neck problem that’s not responding to other treatment methods and you want to be seen by a fantastic group of health professionals that care about YOU and getting you well then you should check out our place. Spinal Decompression of Minnesota. You can visit our website to learn more if you like…www.SpinalDecompressionOfMn.com

Be well,

Dr. Jeff Lavell  

ps: I went through the H1N1 as did my whole family. It went smooth for everyone else, I was the sickest (it really wasn’t that bad other than the 2 days of 104 temp that absolutely wiped me out!) and ended up getting a touch of pneumonia. Overall, the whole experience was over rated…that’s for sure. My take home lesson here is that I knew what the pneumonia symptoms were right away. Make sure that if you have ANY breathing problems, wheezing, shortness of breath (particularly on exhale), shallower breathing than normal, or any “fluidy” sounds in your lung (breathe out and it sounds like you have a party going on in your chest) that you get in right away to your doctor, urgent care, or ER. That’s often the start of pneumonia and you don’t mess around with that. In fact, that’s how most people lose their lives to any type of influenza.

I recently had a consult that came to the office who really was stand offish. She had been to so many places and had done so many things, I just think she was on her last legs. Then I told her that I do around 20-30 consults a month, and most of those people have done all the things she had done too, and nothing had worked. I also told her how about half the people that I consult with had already had surgery.

She was surprised to say the least. She started to relax a bit. She then really let me ask her the questions I needed to see if I could help. I was optimistic. We then looked at her MRI and she had some pretty serious central and foraminal stenosis. Now, stenosis is just narrowing…that’s the literal definition. It’s the “how” of the stenosis that I’m always worried about. As in, what is causing it? Is it the disc? Is it a bone spur? Is it a tumor? What is it…”how” is it.

We then realized that her stenosis was caused by a very large synovial cyst. She had never heard of it. She was simply told she had needed surgery. No one explained to her what it was…why it was there…how it happens…and what her options are. So then, for the next 20 minutes of my time, I told her all about it. I also told her she was not a candidate for what I do, and that I was sorry. I did however have a non-surgical option for her and made the appropriate referral. Flash forward a few weeks now…

She calls me to let me know that her procedure was successful. For the first time in years she hasn’t had pain. She was extremely thankful that I was able to help her (actually I wasn’t, but I did know what could). She then told me about her friend that she was going to refer to me….She sounded in rough shape too! I haven’t seen her yet, but she’s going to get my all as well.

So what does this story have to do with the title? Well, easy. I really enjoy those stand offish people that think I’m there to try to sell them on something that they won’t need (I don’t enjoy their attitude, but I enjoy changing their opinion about things). They have been lied to so many times that when I finally figure out what it is that they need, what’s going to help them they are so grateful. I’m grateful that they gave me the opportunity to help. You know,  that’s what life is all about…relationships and helping people. Each in our own way. I wonder when my next skeptic is going to come in the door (usually it’s every day to a degree!)? I guess you could say that I love it when it comes together.

Be Well,

Dr. Lavell

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Here's NFL Player Igor Olshansky Getting DRX Treatment.

I’m often dumbfounded when I hear people complain that “their orthopedist didn’t recommend this treatment”. While, I certainly don’t always know what the surgeon has in mind for treatment, I do know an old saying “when you are a hammer all you see is nails” . They do surgery, so they’ll probably recommend surgery. Just like I take a non-surgical approach, I’m going to usually recommend that if it’s possible. What I find most interesting about this comment is that people think that one of us is wrong. I don’t think that it’s a right or wrong thing. This is the treatment I do, that’s the treatment they do. I do know that the treatment I recommend gets great results, with minimal or no risk in most cases. We can’t always say the same for surgery. The fact that I have dozens of testimonials from satisfied patients usually helps, but how about this story that I stumbled upon from a mentor and colleague of mine Dr. Eben Davis from San Francisco. I got this from his website. Thanks Eben!…

We now have the privilege at Executive Express Chiropractic of treating newly signed Dallas Cowboy Igor Olshansky, one of the strongest men in the NFL. Igor has been playing Defensive End for the San Diego Chargers for the past 5 years. He is in San Francisco to visit his father for Fathers Day.

His play helped make the San Diego Chargers defensive line one of the best in the NFL. Recently, Igor signed a multi-million dollar contract to play for the Dallas Cowboys. Igor is 6′ 6″ tall and around 320 lbs.
His body takes a pounding day in and day out, either on the field or training (watch Training with Igor Olshansky), so he began using the DRX9000 to help relieve pain from a herniated disc in his low back (not that uncommon in the NFL). Traditional therapies and treatments just did not seem to help enough.

Igor travels a lot and is now in the process of completing a 25 visit DRX9000 treatment plan in three different cities…San Francisco (with us), San Diego, and Dallas. His sister is a chiropractor and Igor is a big proponent for chiropractic care and also Active Release Techniques (ART).

Igor frequently gets treated by a chiropractor in San Diego who does ART to help with back pain and stiffness. Nonsurgical Spinal Decompression with the DRX9000 and Active Release Techniques are two of the only treatments which offer him relief, which enables him to compete at the highest level in the NFL.

Igor Olshansky played high school football here in the San Francisco Bay Area at St. Ignatius High School (and college ball at Oregon)and often speaks to the student athletes about pursuing dreams through hard work and determination.
We can’t wait to see Igor play for the Dallas Cowboys and do his thing. In the meantime we will do our part to make sure his back is ready to go…training camp starts soon (I love football).

Side Note: It sure would make sense for NFL teams to contract with local chiropractors to have all players go through DRX9000 treatments as a cautionary measure to reduce the likelihood of ongoing lumbar and cervical disc disorders from becoming chronic and interfering with play.

So pretty interesting huh? Here’s a guy that could have ANY treatment he wants, (last I checked the NFL teams spend a pretty penny on their players medical treatments), I mean money is NOT an issue, and he gets the DRX 9000 done for his herniated disc. Not surgery from some famous orthopedist, but the DRX 9000! This is a man that is trusting his career on this technology. Why? Because it works! And…I know for a fact some other famous NFL players have done treatment on their backs with the DRX-9000, but due to privacy laws we can’t name who!

Just something to think about next time you are “on the fence” about seeking treatment at our facility with the DRX 9000.

Be well,
Dr. J

ps: The pic of Igor is much better on Eben’s site, plus he has others!

Degenerative Disc Disease (DDD) of the lumbar spine is fairly common. In fact, it’s so common that some of the medical community wonder if it should just be considered a clinical finding vs. a diagnosis or disease. I always liken it to a cavity…very common, but NEVER “normal”. It’s a pathologic process. It’s a disease. Common yes, but not normal.

So how does it happen? Mainly it’s due to abnormal movement in the spine…usually due to a compressive issue like a herniated or bulging disc. This prevents the disc from maintaining it’s normal motion that allows the disc to absorb water and it’s nutrition. It also prevents the disc to from getting rid of its waste products. And that’s the key.

Those waste products are acidic. And if you were to say put a pen into a bucket of acid. What would happen to it? Right, it would get dissolved. The disc is much the same way. Lack of motion causes the disc to build up in acidity and that causes the disc to erode away.

Here is a couple of studies that shows this fact:

Nelson, BW, MD et al.  Archives of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation 1999; 80(Jan):20-25.   Without motion: the disc deteriorates; disc pH decreases: joints stiffen; ligaments shorten; bone density decreases; muscles become deconditioned.  Recent evidence suggests that a damaged disc becomes more acidic & that reduced pH is a mediator of spinal pain.  The adult disc is an avascular structure that depends on diffusion for its nutrition.  Diffusion is facilitated by pumping action through spinal motion.  Lack of motion hinders diffusion.

Buckwalter, MD.  Spine 1995; 20(11):1307-14.  Intervertebral discs undergo age-related degenerative changes.  The most important causes appears to be declining nutrition of the central disc.  This allows an accumulation of cell waste products & degraded matrix molecules, & a fall in pH.  Factors that may increase the rate & severity of these changes by altering nutrition include immobilization, disc loading, vibration & spinal deformity.

This is why Non-Surgical Spinal Decompression therapy make so much sense to me…because we can treat the problem using a more comprehensive approach.

Sure we target the most likely cause of the problem (the primary injured disc)…but at the same time we work on the entire spine and person. And…if we don’t see quick results we put focused attention on the other degenerated spinal discs (spinal decompression targets specific spinal segments).

We don’t cut anything out or fuse anything together. We measure results by how the patient feels and increased function. How would you like to have spine surgery and still have your symptoms? Well…it’s not that uncommon…and you cant reverse it. 

If spinal decompression does not achieve a favorable outcome at least you are still whole…and both are very safe. But the odds are in your favor.

So if you have leg pain (sciatica), degenerated discs, bulging discs, or chronic back pain…and nothing is working…consider chiropractic or spinal decompression…or both…it just might be the missing link.

Call (651) 255-2527 to schedule your appointment or visit www.SpinalDecompressionOfMn.com to learn more.