Irvine Family Health Center
Spinal Decompression
(949) 857-1888

Did You Know?

Bending and twisting are tthe two least-tolerated spinal motions. They also happen to be the two main activities associated with golfing!

Repetitive rotation of the spine seen with golfing can slowly degrade the integrity of the spinal discs, causing them to eventually bulge, herniate or rupture.

Research studies in sports medicine cite that approximately 30% of touring professionals are playing injured each week!

DRX9000 Spinal Decompression is effective at reducing pain and improving golf-swing flexibility by returning injured and degenerated discs to normal function.

Golf-Related Back Pain

Flexibility is the Key

Relationship Between Flexibility and Club Head Speed

	Spinal/Pelvic Rotational Flexibility	Club Head Speed
Average Amateur	160 degrees	90 mph
Average Professional Golfer	180 degrees	115 mph
Top 1/2% of Professionals	200 degrees	125 mph
Tiger Woods	215 degrees ("Golf" Magazine)	135 mpg ("Golf" magazine)

Source: The Geometry of Golf, Dr. Jeffry H. Blanchard

Golf-Related Back Pain:: The Problem

The motions that are least tolerated by the discs of the spine and bending and twisting. The repetitive rotation of the spine associated with the golf swing slowly degrades the integrity of the spinal discs causing them to eventually bulge, herniate or, worse, rupture.

Golf-Related Back Pain:: Why Does This Happen?

The “perfect golf swing” (if there is such a thing) incorporates nearly every joint between the tips of the toes and the ends of the fingers. All these joints taken together create an unbroken chain. Any limitation in motion of any of these joints will shift the work burden up the chain to the spine causing increased strain, wear and tear on the spinal discs. This can cause serious injury to the discs over time. In fact, research studies in sports medicine cite that approximately 30% of touring professionals are playing injured each week.

Unfortunately for golfers, the least tolerated spinal motion is twisting. The tough, outer layers of the disc overlap with one another like the layers of an onion. This design is effective at withstanding the compression due to gravity, but this design is extremely vulnerable to bending and twisting. Bending and twisting also happen to be the two main activities associated with golfing!

Golf-Related Back Pain:: The DRX9000 Spinal Decompression Solution

Non-Surgical Spinal Disc Decompression provides relief to golf-related low back pain sufferers by gently reducing the pressure within spinal discs. The bones of the spine are slowly and methodically separated using the DRX9000 Spinal Decompression equipment. As the vertebrae are separated pressure is slowly reduced within the disc (intradiscal pressure) until a vacuum is formed. This vacuum “sucks” the gelatinous center of the disc back into the disc thereby reducing the bulged or herniated disc. Significant disc herniation reduction removes pressure off the spinal nerves and drastically reduces pain and disability. This “sucking” vacuum also pulls much-needed oxygen and nutrients into injured and degenerated discs allowing the healing to begin.

The treatment motion is computer controlled to provide gentle and painless decompression of the injured spinal discs. Advanced DRX9000 decompression techniques separate slowly and cycle between brief moments of pulling and relaxing (oscillation). This reduces protective muscle spasm that contributed to the poor success rate of other “traction” techniques. The latest DRX9000 decompression technologies also incorporate angulated elongation methods to target specific discs of the spine (for example: L5/S1 at the base of the spine). This allows the treatment to rely less on brute force (separating multiple levels with high force) and more on finesse (using less decompressive force to focus on a single spinal segment) to rehabilitate individual spinal discs

Contact our office at (949) 857-1888 to arrange a consultation on the phone or in person.

More specific information can be found about the following golf-related injuries using the following links:

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Irvine Family Health Center Spinal Decompression in Orange County, CA

14150 Culver Drive, Suite 103 • Irvine, California 92604 • phone: (949) 857-1888.

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