Lumbar Spine Traction is a Wonderful Thing

After weeks of trying painkillers alone, I finally went to sports rehab for help with her agonizingly painful lumbar spine problem. To my surprise, physical therapy was a relief to my back pain, and I was able to leave the facility an hour later, walking fully upright for the first time in weeks. Thanks to a wonderful contraption called a traction bed, that stretched out my spine and relieved the pressure on the lumbar area.

What is traction? The physical therapist first put me in a harness. They had me wear a vest-like apparatus, and attached another one to go the opposite way, as I lied down on the traction table, with pillows under my head. Then, they hooked me to a Tens Machine (I'll explain that in a moment) and then turned on both systems. It felt wonderful, I could've stayed there all evening. After roughly twenty minutes, they unhooked me, and I was amazed to be able to walk around much more comfortably than when I walked in the place. Whoever invented this wonderful apparatus did back pain sufferers a really big favor.

What is a Tens Unit? It is a machine that emits minor electrical pulses to the area that is in pain, working the muscles and giving relief to the area. There are different kinds of pulses, some ping and some pulse, but they all feel great. I had the physical therapist crank it up as high as possible, and it made my pains go away for the time I was using it. Amazing. I'd been doubled over with serious pain, even with medicines like Celebrex and Tylenol with Codeine in my system. This worked better than both of those together, hands down.