NONSURGICAL DISC DECOMPRESSION

Once herniation of a disc occurs, it is important to take steps to relieve the herniation to prevent further damage to the annulus fibrosis. In many cases when the pressure of the protruding nucleus pulposus is relieved, the herniation will reduce and the patient’s pain will decrease or be eliminated. This return of the disc to a more normal anatomic position can allow the annulus fibrosis to heal, inflammation to decrease, and the muscles and ligaments of the back to strengthen.

Simple rest can help relieve herniation. Analgesics, muscle relaxants, and injection of steroids into the lower back can also be used in attempt to reduce the protruding disc and allow the area to heal. When these methods are not effective, surgery, whether minimally invasive or conventional is the next step for many patients. Chemonucleolysis, the injection of an enzyme into the bulging disc to reduce its size, though popular in the past is rarely used today. Questions of its effectiveness and the potential of life-threatening allergic reaction tempered its use.

ActiveO is actively developing technologies with a focus on rapid, nonsurgical disc decompression to relieve low back pain. It is our hope that these technologies will someday help the millions of people worldwide who are caught in the gap of needing more relief than currently available nonsurgical treatments can provide, yet do not want the risk and downtime of conventional surgical therapy.

A herniated disc pressing on spinal nerves can cause severe pain.	Reduction of the herniation removes pressure on the nerves and relieves pain.

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