Intervertebral Disc Pressure Changes During Low Back Treatment Procedures

Abstract Some of the treatments for low back pain use different motions to the spine. One such treatment protocol used by chiropractic physicians in the treatment of low back pain is the Cox flexion-distraction procedure (1). The Cox procedure consists of placing the patient in a prone position on a flexion-distraction table and then creating distraction, flexion, extension, lateral flexion, and circumduction motions at the joint of interest. Gudavalli et al. (2) reported decreases in intradiscal pressures during the combined motions of flexion-distraction motions. However, no data exist during other motions of the table. The purpose of the present study was to measure the changes in the intradiscal pressures during all the maneuvers of the treatment protocols.