Backs on track

Dr. Richard Siegfried stands with the DRX 9000 at his Lodi Avenue office on Friday morning. Siegfried has had the decompression machine in his office for three months. It helps patients with disc degeneration, herniated discs or post-traumatic injuries. (Jennifer M. Howell/News-Sentinel)

Backs on track

Lodi chiropractor installs new machine to help speed recovery of bad discs

By Marc Lutz
Business editor

Tuesday, January 15, 2008 6:36 AM PST

Comments (1 comment(s))

Imagine living with back pain so severe you've forgotten what it was like not to hurt. It becomes commonplace, almost normal.

A degenerative disc problem has kept you from enjoying something as simple as a good morning stretch.

Now imagine being able to do more than stretch. Imagine being able to pick up your child again, play tennis or just bend over.

For Jeff Dunlap, a construction worker from Lodi, the pain was a part of everyday life. Being a grade setter (someone who checks the levels of a building's foundation), bending, stooping and running around started to take its toll on his back.

Seven years ago, as his discs started to give him problems, Dunlap started seeing Dr. Richard Siegfried, a Lodi-based chiropractor.

But it wasn't until three months ago that Dunlap started seeing a major difference. That's when Siegfried integrated a decompression machine into his practice on Lodi Avenue.

Though the office is small, Siegfried converted one of three examination rooms into a decompression chamber, so to speak. Siegfried installed a machine called a DRX9000.

The FDA-approved DRX9000 — built by Axiom Worldwide in Tampa, Fla. — looks more like it belongs in the sickbay of the starship Enterprise of TV's "Star Trek," which is no surprise due to the fact that it was partially created by engineers from NASA.

Siegfried is proud to say that this is the only DRX9000 in Lodi. The cost for such a piece of medical equipment is $100,000, but — for now — Siegfried's is on loan from Yuba City-based pain specialist Dr. Dwayne Rickerson, M.D.

So what does this space-age technological wonder do?

The DRX 9000 at a glance

Advanced system diagnostics: Constantly monitors the device's critical subsystems.
Audio headphones: Allows patient to listen to music, educational video, music or a movie.
Automatic shoulder support system: Improves patient positioning and comfort.
Cervical pillow: Provides patient comfort.
Floating lower mattress: Allows natural elongation of patient's spine.
Knee rest: Improves patient comfort.
Lumbar selector: Adjusts system to proper angle for specific lumbar disc treament.
Patient safety switch: Gives patient the ability to immediately stop treatment if necessary.
Platform scale: Weight scale data transfers directly into treatment computer.
Touch screen computer: Easily select treatment parameters without the need of a separate keyboard and mouse.
Treatment positioner and tensioning cable: Therapeutic forces are delivered to the patient through the tensioning cable, which can be raised and lowered by the treatment positioner.
Source: http://www.axiomworldwide.com.

"It basically decompresses the spine. If there are people that have disc degeneration, herniated discs or post-traumatic injuries, what this does is basically take the disc, stretch the lower back, takes pressure off the disc and sets the spine back into alignment," Siegfried said.

Rickerson bought two of the machines after suffering from back pain for 20 years. He was told he was going to need surgery, so he started looking at various options. The DRX9000 wasn't available in his area at the time, so he bought one and brought it back from Florida.

"I started treating myself," Rickerson said. "I felt better in three treatments, though it calls for 20 treatments."

Rickerson says that since beginning use of the machine, he has had an 83 percent recovery rate with his patients. He eventually added a second machine, which is the one Siegfried now uses.

Only three patients have been treated by Siegfried since he installed the DRX9000, yet he said the results are good. He says he can tell right away if patients are responding to the treatment.

"It's relaxing. Your knees are up; you're not moving," Dunlap said. "It pulls on your hips; it pulls real gently on your spine. The constant pain is pretty much gone now. I'm playing tennis with the wife again."

Siegfried is optimistic about further use of the machine and plans to install a flat-panel high-definition monitor above the unit to play educational DVDs while patients receive a 20 minute therapy sessions on the machine.

"It's fantastic. It's a blessing," Siegfried said.

Contact Marc Lutz at marcl@lodinews.com.

Reader Feedback

effa56 wrote on Jan 15, 2008 7:48 AM:

" wish i was in lodi or close enough to try this procedure it sounds like a real relief of cronic pain. after living with constant pain for 12 years this sounds GREAT i hope he has it in 2 years when i move back home "

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