Dr. Ali Akhavan Health Blog
Dr. Ali Akhavan Health Blog
Back Pain It Could Be All In The Family

Plagued by continuous low back pain, your genes could be the culprit. A new study now reveals that low back pain from disc disease could be inherited.

Researchers examined two million Utah residents health and family history information and found 1,264 diagnoses of lower spine disease linked with herniated or degenerating discs. Disc disease is one of the most common reasons for continual back pain

People who had an immediate family member like parent or sibling with disc associated low back pain had four times more the chance to have low back pain.

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EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT DISC HERNIATION

This is a educational animated video describing disc herniation of the lumbar and sacral regions of the spine.  This video, produced by one of the orthopedic surgeons at the university of toledo, shows the anatomy of the spine and discs and explains the causes, sites, and levels of disc prolapse bulge herniations and the symptoms that accompany them

Questions Many People Ask About Spinal Decompression Treatment
Statistics show that 8 out of every 10 people will eventually succumb to the adverse effects of gravity and suffer from back pains. Back pain is a symptom of herniated disc syndrome, a disorder which is caused when two vertebrae put too much pressure on the tissue between them. In turn, this is caused by bad posture, age, genetic factors and poor eating habits. To correct this problem there are two approaches: surgery and spinal decompression treatment.
Spinal decompression treatments vary and they are growing in popularity, due to the fact that it’s a cheaper, non-invasive alternative to surgery. Here are some of the questions people ask about this treatment. 
How long does it take to see results?
This depends on many factors. However, a lot of patients report pain reduction after only a few sessions. More significant results are observed after 2 weeks of treatment.
Do I qualify for decompression spinal treatment?
Though spinal decompression is perfect for people who suffer from herniated disc syndrome or chronic back pain, not everyone is entitled to it. Before you seek this form of treatment, it’s important that you consult your physician or chiropractor first. Generally, these are the people who are excluded from the treatment:
• Pregnant women• Those who suffer from severe osteoporosis or scoliosis• Those who suffer from pelvic or abdominal cancer• Those who have recently suffered from bone fractures, especially those involving the spine• Patients below 18 years old
Can I go through spinal decompression treatment even after I’ve had surgery?
Definitely. As a matter of fact, people who have undergone failed spinal surgery have found success with spinal decompression. Having had spinal surgery doesn’t disqualify you from decompress spine treatment.What is the different between spinal decompression and spinal traction?
Spinal traction is used to treat conditions that are caused by herniated disc disorder and degeneration. It does not address the actual source of the problem. Spinal decompression, on other hand, is a process which involves creating space or negative vacuum inside the disc itself.
This “fixes” the disc itself. It literally pulls itself back into position and restoring its ability to absorb nutrients and receive blood. With this treatment, it is the disc’s natural fibroblastic response that heals and rehydrates itself.
Traction, through the use of inversion tables and other devices, is also effective against herniated discs but spinal decompression treatment has been observed to be more successful in delivering permanent positive results.
If you are suffering form chronic lower back pain or sciatica due to a disc herniation or a bulge, contact our office for a complementary spinal decompression evaluation by calling 604-984-4601 or visit us at www.vanspinaldecompression.com

Questions Many People Ask About Spinal Decompression Treatment

Statistics show that 8 out of every 10 people will eventually succumb to the adverse effects of gravity and suffer from back pains. Back pain is a symptom of herniated disc syndrome, a disorder which is caused when two vertebrae put too much pressure on the tissue between them. In turn, this is caused by bad posture, age, genetic factors and poor eating habits. To correct this problem there are two approaches: surgery and spinal decompression treatment.

Spinal decompression treatments vary and they are growing in popularity, due to the fact that it’s a cheaper, non-invasive alternative to surgery. Here are some of the questions people ask about this treatment. 

How long does it take to see results?

This depends on many factors. However, a lot of patients report pain reduction after only a few sessions. More significant results are observed after 2 weeks of treatment.

Do I qualify for decompression spinal treatment?

Though spinal decompression is perfect for people who suffer from herniated disc syndrome or chronic back pain, not everyone is entitled to it. Before you seek this form of treatment, it’s important that you consult your physician or chiropractor first. Generally, these are the people who are excluded from the treatment:

• Pregnant women
• Those who suffer from severe osteoporosis or scoliosis
• Those who suffer from pelvic or abdominal cancer
• Those who have recently suffered from bone fractures, especially those involving the spine
• Patients below 18 years old

Can I go through spinal decompression treatment even after I’ve had surgery?

Definitely. As a matter of fact, people who have undergone failed spinal surgery have found success with spinal decompression. Having had spinal surgery doesn’t disqualify you from decompress spine treatment.
What is the different between spinal decompression and spinal traction?

Spinal traction is used to treat conditions that are caused by herniated disc disorder and degeneration. It does not address the actual source of the problem. Spinal decompression, on other hand, is a process which involves creating space or negative vacuum inside the disc itself.

This “fixes” the disc itself. It literally pulls itself back into position and restoring its ability to absorb nutrients and receive blood. With this treatment, it is the disc’s natural fibroblastic response that heals and rehydrates itself.

Traction, through the use of inversion tables and other devices, is also effective against herniated discs but spinal decompression treatment has been observed to be more successful in delivering permanent positive results.

If you are suffering form chronic lower back pain or sciatica due to a disc herniation or a bulge, contact our office for a complementary spinal decompression evaluation by calling 604-984-4601 or visit us at www.vanspinaldecompression.com

The “Failed Back Surgery Syndrome”: A serious Public health concern

The July, 2004 of “The BackLetter” published by Lippincott contains the following inditement:

“The world of spinal medicine, unfortunately, is producing patients with failed back surgery syndrome at an alarming rate” (Vol. 12, No. 7, pp.79).

The validity of this declaration continues to be reinforced by an increasing chorus of voices from the health care communities including neurosurgeons and orthopedists.  The key questions today are how this sad state of affairs came to be and how to best address this serious health care issue. 


All spine surgery carries with it a significant degree of patient risk but when the resulting surgery does not alleviate the problem, or creates even greater problems for the patient, the situation is referred to as a    “failed back surgery syndrome (FBSS).”  In 1981 the Editor was a contributor to an international FBSS (Canada and the United States) study which was published in the peer reviewed journal “Clinical Orthopedics.” The authors pointed out that the first step in avoiding FBSS was the need to study the reasons why surgery failed and to endeavor to provide this information to surgeons and other physicians as an important means of promoting better patient care.

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Lumbar Disc Decompression Without Surgery

Up until recently, lumbar disc decompression referred to a surgical procedure whereby part of the spine was cut-out to remove pressure off the spinal cord or lumbar nerve roots.

Now, the lumbar disc decompression or spinal disc decompression terms refer to procedures that can be either surgical or nonsurgical.

At the Vancouver Spinal Decompression Center, we perform the nonsurgical spinal decompression using a spinal decompression machine. This machine was designed and built to treat neurovascular compression syndromes such as herniated discs, bulging discs, facet syndrome, and disc degeneration….without surgery (watch this spinal decompression introduction video).

Nonsurgical disc decompression helps many patients avoid back surgery, but you have to qualify medically (How does spinal decompression work?).

If you do qualify for non-surgical disc decompression then there is a very good chance it will help you.

Will you get completely better? Sometimes…but in most cases you simply become much better than you were. It just depends what we are starting with, your age, your over-all physical condition, how much spinal degeneration there is, how many disc herniations you have,  and your level of commitment to get better. 

Nonsurgical spinal decompression is helping thousands of patients every day return to more normal lives and avoid surgery. And the only way to find out if it will work for YOU is to try it (but you must qualify).

Either spinal disc decompression works (which is most likely) or it doesn’t. We don’t cut anything out or inject anything in (to your body). If decompression therapy does not work you are still left whole, and you can pursue other options.

If you have certain kinds of back surgery such as a surgical fusion, you are disqualified from ever trying nonsurgical spinal decompression. It’s something to think about.

 If you have a condition such as a herniated lumbar disc, bulging disc, spinal stenosis, degenerated disc, facet syndrome, sciatica, back pain, leg pain…or any other lumbar spine disorder that is not responding to conventional back pain therapies, non-surgical disc decompression is worth a look. You can always have surgery. But if you have surgery….you may not be able to try nonsurgical spinal decompression…ever.

To find out if you qualify for, Call the Vancouver Spinal Decompression Center at 604-984-4601 for your complimentary spinal decompression qualification consult.