What should you know about a DOC spinal decompression table?

The table supports the body while a clinician sets a treatment position and selects a gentle movement or pulling pattern. The aim is to alter spinal loading temporarily and make symptoms easier to manage during a wider care plan. The device is not a diagnosis and does not identify the cause of back or neck pain. Non-surgical spinal decompression and traction therapy may use different equipment and methods, so ask exactly what is being offered.

Tell the practitioner about numbness, weakness, osteoporosis, recent injuries, surgery, pregnancy, cancer, infection, blood-clotting problems and implanted devices. Explain what positions worsen your symptoms. During treatment, report sharp pain, increasing tingling, dizziness or a new feeling of weakness; a clinician can stop and reassess. Confirm the treatment goal, expected sensations, alternatives and how progress will be judged.

Seek urgent assessment for new loss of bladder or bowel control, numbness around the groin, rapidly worsening leg weakness, severe pain after trauma or fever with spinal pain. After treatment, promptly report new persistent weakness, spreading numbness or pain that is substantially worse than before the session.

What is causing my symptoms? Is this table appropriate for that cause? What alternatives should I consider? Which warning signs mean treatment should stop? How will we decide whether it is helping?