Did you know spinal decompression therapy has a higher success rate than surgery for herniated and bulging discs and spinal stenosis? Spinal surgery has a first-time failure rate between 10-46% depending on which study you read. If we estimate and say the failure rate is somewhere in between that would put it at about 28% failure – or, if looking on the bright side, a 72% success rate. While this is a decent success rate, the latest research study shows spinal decompression has a 90.5% success rate.
What is defined as success? For both surgery and spinal decompression, success is considered an outcome of achieving 50% or greater symptom relief. Surgery is definitely at times necessary for certain spine conditions, but it should be reserved as a last resort option.
You have a greater chance of gaining relief with your back or neck condition with spinal decompression. The great part about this is there is really no downside to decompression. The worst it will do is nothing, and cost a few thousand dollars. With surgery, you could get worse, you will have down time while recovering, if you work you will have to take off for a while, and the out-of-pocket costs will at a minimum match your insurance deductible.
Do spinal decompression first. It will likely help a lot. If you are in the 10% of patients who don’t gain relief, perhaps surgery is needed. Don’t jump to surgery, though, unless all non-surgical options have been exhausted first.