Dr. Boydston's Back Pain & Sciatica Blog

Back Pain Gone! Former Fresno Country Supervisor, Stan Oken, Tells His Story

Dr. Robert Boydston, a Chiropractor and Spinal Decompression Doctor in Fresno, shares:

I received this email recently from Stan Oken, former Fresno Country Supervisor, about his great success with Spinal Decompression Treatment in our office:

My name is Stan Oken, Chairman of the Board of Wonder Valley Resort and former Fresno County Supervisor.  Most of my life I been very active in athletics. From time to time, I would experience temporary excruciating incapacitating lower back pain. Now, as I turned 80 it takes months of rest to recover. This lower back pain even affected my ability to walk long distances. As I desire to stay, physically active I have tried, unsuccessfully, almost every possible treatment with the exception of surgery.

It was either living the rest of my life with this lower back pain or trying something new in which I did not know anyone that had tried this new treatment.

Following up on an ad in the paper, I went to Dr. Robert Boydston and agreed to try this new procedure called Spinal Decompression. After about four or five sessions I felt about 75% improved. After I completed the entire series of treatments, I was able to get back into almost full activity and even can work in my shop again.

From time to time when I get a setback, I would go in and get another treatment and I’d be fine for several months. I’m not saying that this treatment is good for every back problem but I can only tell you that for my lower back it has worked wonders.

You are not alone. If you suffer with sever back pain, sciatica, or a herniated disc then there is hope. Spinal Decompression is a fairly new back pain technology that is helping thousands and thousands throughout the world.

If you would like to find out if you are a candidate for Spinal Decompression with the DRX9000 Machine at the Boydston Institute, in Clovis...just 2 blocks outside of Fresno, call 559-297-9218. If you have a question, Contact Us.

Spinal Decompression Therapy: What "They" Don't Always Tell You

Dr. Robert Boydston, a Chiropractor in Fresno...utilizing the DRX9000 and the ATM2 Back Pain Machine...elaborates:

I use the DRX9000 everyday at the Boydston Institute...Fresno's Spinal Decompression Center. It is a fantastic tool. In reality, it is the only non-surgical technology that is designed to treat and repair the lumbar discs. It works fantastically for herniated discs, degenerative disc disease, and sciatica.

The question that doesn't get asked enough is how did these back problems develop in the first place? What is the mechanism? This is an easy question to answer if you developed sciatica or leg pain after an accident or trauma. What if it just slowly developed over time?

It is a known anatomical fact that the disc's do not have a direct blood supply. As your spine moves it pushes fluid in and out of the discs, through a pumping process called imbibition. When a section of the spine loses normal movement...the disc will dry out. This is the start of the process that leads to degeneration, bulging, and herniations of the discs. But what causes areas of the spine to lose motion?

One of the most overlooked causes of spinal problems is from the brain. Your cerebellum, which is the very back of your brain. If you were to put your hand on the back of your head...just above your neck, your hand would be on your cerebellum. Your cerebellum is the part of your brain that controls all your spinal postural muscles...the ones that move your spine.

If your cerebellum is not working properly...the muscles in the back spasm, causing the joints in the spine to lock up. This will cause the spine to lose proper motion...setting you up for disc problems.

We check this in our patients and include cerebellar rehabilitation as part of our treatment programs. We have treated patients who have previously had minimal results with the DRX9000 when used alone, and included the cerebellar rehabilitation...and it made all the difference in the world! Your cerebellum has to be working properly for your spine and low back to work properly.

Spinal decompression is a great tool...in my opinion, the best tool for the non-surgical treatment of back conditions. The truth is...many times, success is dependent on doing the proper rehab, along with the DRX9000 decompression treatment. In our treatment programs we include cerebellar rehab with our Boydston Brain Based Rehabilitation, the ATM2 Back Machine, muscle stim, and heat...along with a post-treatment core stability program. Missing a step could mean the difference between success and failure.

Do you have a herniated disc, sciatica, or chronic back pain, and would like to see if the DRX9000 and our advanced program can help you? Call the Boydston Institute, in Clovis, CA...just 2 blocks east of Fresno...at 559-297-9218. Ask for a consultation with Dr. Robert Boydston. If you have questions, Contact Us.

Non-Surgical Treatment Options For Lumbar Spinal Stenosis

Dr. Robert Boydston, a Fresno Chiropractor...elaborates:

Lumbar spinal stenosis is a compression of the spinal nerve roots and spinal cord in the lower back. Symptoms of lumbar spinal stenosis include: sciatic leg pain, tingling, numbness, or weakness in the legs. Symptoms are usually relieved by flexing forward, which opens the spinal canal. Symptoms typically develop gradually over time, usually not till after age 50.

What causes spinal stenosis in the first place?

The narrowing of the spinal canal in spinal stenosis is usually caused by, arthritic changes in the lumbar joints and ligaments, and disc disease.

Immediately behind the spinal cord is your posterior spinal joints and your ligamentum flavum, a large ligament that runs from vertebrae to vertebrae inside the spinal canal (It is the yellow ligament shown in the picture). As we age, many people develop arthritis changes that enlarge the ligaments and joints, leaving less room for the spinal cord and nerve roots.

Most spinal stenosis patients also have degenerated and bulging lumbar discs. These small disc bulges may be clinically insignificant in a younger patient, but combined with bony changes in the lumbar joints, it contributes to the narrowing of the spinal canal, creating numbness, tingling, weakness, and pain.

For lumbar spinal stenosis patients that have a significant contribution from bulging discs, spinal decompression with the DRX9000 Lumbar Spinal Decompression System, may be the perfect non-surgical solution to fix the lumbar disc problem.

The DRX9000 gently distracts the lumbar discs, creating a negative disc pressure, allowing the disc to infuse with fluid and oxygen, and pulling bulging disc material back into the center of the disc. A reduction in disc bulges and an increase in disc height can free enough space in the spinal canal to give relief of spinal stenosis symptoms.

I treat Spinal Stenosis patients with disc problems everyday in my Fresno Spinal Decompression Center. Most of the time patients are told they have spinal stenosis, but that haven't had someone sit down and review their MRI with them. Often surgery is the only option given to spinal stenosis patients, leaving them without a non-invasive solution.

After a consultation, exam, and review of previous MRI's, we find that Non-Surgical Spinal Decompression with the DRX9000 is a great option for spinal stenosis patients. 

If you suffer with numbness, tingling, and pain due to lumbar spinal stenosis, then you may have a non-surgical option. If you  would like to find out if you are a candidate for the DRX9000 at The Boydston Institute in Clovis, just 2 blocks East of Fresno...simply call 559-297-9218. Ask for a Spinal Decompresssion Consultation with Dr. Robert Boydston. If you have question Contact Us.  

Taking Vicoden To Manage Back Pain? New Non-Surgical Alternatives Available

Dr. Robert Boydston, a Chiropractor in Fresno, Explains:

Are you constantly having to refill your prescription for vicoden, or other pain killers, because of your chronic back pain? This is a common practice for many back pain sufferer's who feel they have no choice. Back pain can be debilitating...making everyday activities next to impossible.

Long term use of narcotic pain killers like vicoden can lead to addiction and abuse. Over time the body builds a tolerance to all pain killers. More and more pills are required to create the same pain relieving effect. It creates a downward spiral that doesn't get to the root of the problem. The back condition remains unchanged.

Long term use of pain killers may result in further damage to spinal discs, joints, and muscles. Pain is your bodies mechanism to alert you of damage, or warn you to discontinue a particular activity. Masking the pain and continuing with normal physical activity can cause a back condition to worsen.

I treat chronic back pain patients everyday in my Fresno Spinal Decompression Center. We are the leader in non-surgical back care in the Fresno and Clovis area. I use the DRX9000 Lumbar Spinal Decompression Disc Repair System and the ATM2 Back Pain machine. 

I understand the need to get through the day with minimal pain. I see first hand the havock back pain can cause in a person's life. That is why I use the most advanced non-surgical devices to treat chronic back pain, sciatica, degenerative disc disease, and herniated discs.

Most chronic back pain patients have been through traditional physical therapy and spinal injections, yet still continue to have daily back pain. I don't like to see patients have to suffer on a daily regimen of pills. With the advances made with DRX9000 Non-Surgical Spinal Decompression, suffering is no longer a requirement.

If you suffer with chronic back pain and would like to see if the DRX9000 and the ATM2 Back Pain Machine can help you? Call the Boydston Institute...in Clovis, CA...just 2 blocks east of Fresno...at 559-297-9218. Ask for a Spinal Decompression Consultation with Dr. Robert Boydston. If you have question Contact Us.

Sciatica From A Disc Herniation?

Dr. Robert Boydston, a Chiropractor in Fresno...utilizing the DRX9000 Spinal Decompression Machine...elaborates:

The Sciatic nerve is the largest nerve in the body. Sciatica is severe pain, weakness, numbness, or tingling in the buttock, leg and sometimes, the foot. The confusing thing about sciatica is that just about anything that irritates the low back can cause sciatica pain. The spinal joints, nerve roots, discs, and muscles can all cause pain that looks and feels like sciatica.

A common cause of sciatica is from disc bulges or disc herniation's. If you have a disc herniation then muscle relaxers, physical therapy, exercise, or injections are usually of very little benefit. As a lumbar disc herniates or bulges it moves posterior into the spinal canal, causing compression of the lumbar nerve roots and blood vessels that supply the sciatic nerve.

Imaging...an MRI or CT Scan...can reveal the specific source of the nerve irritation. If you suffer from sciatica caused by a disc bulge or herniation you most likely have already been through physical therapy, and injections with little change in symptoms. You may have been told that surgery is your only option.

At my Fresno Spinal Decompression Center we specialize in treating sciatica caused by disc bulges or disc herniation's. If you are staring surgery in the face then Non-surgical Spinal Decompression with the DRX9000 is your best option.

The DRX9000 is designed to create very precise forces on the lumbar spinal discs. The application of the decompressive force gently opens the disc space, creating a vacuum within the disc, drawing the bulging disc material away from the spinal nerve roots and spinal cord.

Treatments on the DRX9000 Lumbar Decompression machine are comfortable and relaxing. During the decompression treatment you can listen to music or watch a movie. Many patients utilize their 30-minute decompression session as a time to close their eyes and relax, some even take a short nap.

If you have sciatica that has not responded to other therapies, then you may be suffering from a disc bulge or disc herniation. The DRX9000 Spinal Decompression System is a non-surgical lumbar disc repair system. It was designed specifically to fix this problem.

Do you have a disc herniation and would like to see if the DRX9000 and the ATM2 Back Pain Machine can help you? Call the Boydston Institute...in Clovis, CA...just 2 blocks east of Fresno...at 559-297-9218. Ask for a Spinal Decompression Consultation with Dr. Robert Boydston. If you have questions Contact Us.

Do you have a disc herniation and would like to see if the DRX9000 and the ATM2 Back Pain Machine can help you? Call the Boydston Institute...in Clovis, CA...just 2 blocks east of Fresno...at 559-297-9218. Ask for a Spinal Decompression Consultation with Dr. Robert Boydston. If you have questions Contact Us.