Spinal decompression or spinal traction in days of old looked more like torture devices than therapy. But today there are many tractions devices employed by physical therapists and chiropractors including massage chairs.
According to healthline.com, “spinal traction is a form of decompression therapy that relieves pressure on the spine. It can be performed manually or mechanically. Spinal traction is used to treat herniated discs, sciatica, degenerative disc disease, pinched nerves, and many other back conditions”.
Those who can benefit from spinal traction include people suffering from slipped discs, bone spurs, degenerative disc disease, herniated discs, facet disease, sciatica, foramina stenosis, and pinched nerves just to name a few.
“Decompression therapy typically consists of a series of 15 to 30 treatments, lasting 30 to 45 minutes each, over a four to six-week period” and can cost upwards of $6000.00. This decompression takes the pressure off the spinal disks by creating negative pressure which may retract bulging or herniated disks.
Obviously, the downside here is the cost as multiple treatments may continue over an even longer period of time. And although studies into the efficacy of spinal traction alone are largely anecdotal, when combined with massage can be very effective especially in cases involving spinal stenosis.
Again it can be difficult to travel over and over to a hospital, physical therapist, or chiropractor that provides spinal traction services but there are a few massage chairs that provide both stretching and massage techniques and when weighing the costs a massage chair can pay for itself in just a year.
The massage chair that combines the most stretching options with the most massage techniques is the Panasonic MAJ7. And although it packs a whopping price tag, it is widely considered the best therapy chair on the market and the ability to be able to use it at a moment’s notice to alleviate pain makes it worth the money and time away from traveling to a Dr. office.
https://www.healthline.com/health/spinal-traction
https://www.webmd.com/back-pain/guide/spinal-decompression-therapy-surgical-nonsurgical#1
https://www.spine-health.com/treatment/chiropractic/how-spinal-decompression-therapy-thought-work
https://www.integrativehealthcare.org/mt/massage-and-spinal-stenosis/
