If you've been a sufferer of chronic lower back pain for any amount of time chances are you may have heard of the DRX9000 machine already. Perhaps even your chiropractor has already mentioned the non-surgical treatment option of the DRX9000 table.

Due to the complex nature of our backs, it is hard to generalize symptoms to common causes. The lower vertebrae consists of disks and joints, and for different reasons either the discs or joints can become weak or damaged. With these weak or damaged discs or joints, pressure can build up on neighboring nerves in the spinal column, in turn causing the chronic lower back pain.

Spinal decompression aims to relieve this pain by alleviating the pressure on the nerves. Doing this with surgery can be quite a daunting prospect since the spinal cord needs to be exposed and worked on to relieve this pressure. Alternatively, for many patients the DRX9000 machine can achieve the same results without any surgery at all.

The DRX9000 spinal decompression table uses a type of traction therapy. More specifically, a "dis-traction" method that instead of pulling on the whole spinal column at once, it can isolate the problem areas and focus the treatment with a series of oscillating pulling and relaxing movements. This method allows the damaged disc some space to breath as the vertebrae on either side will now be further apart.

Surgery for chronic lower back pain is hardly the most appealing prospect for anyone, so in a lot of cases the non surgical alternative is not a difficult choice.

Many chiropractors would have you believe that the DRX9000 is the answer to any and all back pain, guaranteed to provide you with relief. While it may be true for a number of people, just as with any alternative therapy or even surgery the success rate is nowhere near 100%. It can be difficult to get a treatment program for the DRX9000 paid for by a lot of insurance companies, so a lot of the time patients would have to foot the bill themselves.

A round of treatments can vary in length -- anywhere from two weeks to a few months of regular visits. Most cases involve 30-45 minutes of therapy per session, with daily or bi-daily visits for the first week or two. After the first week the sessions usually drop to 1-3 times a week. The amount of therapy given does heavily depend on the severity of the symptoms and the individual response rate of the patient. Treatments can range in price depending on where you go, but usually they cost from $80-$150 per session, with around 20 sessions usually prescribed as the initial treatment. This adds up to around $1600-$3000 for the treatment, which doesn't sound overly expensive when compared to surgery. However, often it turns out the patient will request or need further treatments, and someone taking treatments from the DRX9000 can easily end up having 3-5 rounds of treatments, making the total costs higher.

Anyone who has suffered, or even knows someone who suffers from chronic lower back pain probably knows all too well that it can be hard to find suitable relief without having surgery, and even having surgery doesn't guarantee the pain will go away. For many the DRX9000 spinal decompression system can be a viable alternative and certainly worth investigating as a chronic lower back pain treatment option.

You should always be sure to consult your physician before considering using the DRX9000 spinal decompression system or any other medical course of action. This article is for general information only and should not be used as a substitute for sound, professional medical advice.