- Warm muscles in lower back with light stretching or exercise before using LumbarTrac™.
- Ensure extension rod is completely retracted. Adjust top harness to wrap just below your rib cage and bottom harness to wrap around your hips while placing your right leg through strap. Secure tightly.
- Begin by gently and slowly turning wheel handles until you begin to feel the pull. Increase pull very slowly until you begin to feel discomfort, then hold the tension while backing off as necessary. Re-apply tension as you feel comfortable. Do this for 10 to 15 minutes every few days or as needed.
- Avoid pulling too much in the beginning to prevent unnecessary soreness. Expect some soreness due to pulling tissue that has never been stretched. Soreness will subside with more use.
- When finished, continue to lie on LumbarTrac™ for a few minutes to let the tissue recover a bit while slowly moving your hips around.
Warning: Only the person strapped into the LumbarTrac™ is to operate the wheel handles.
Contraindications for Spinal Decompression Therapy
Stretching the spine to relieve back pain is not appropriate for some people. The following groups of people are not good candidates for spinal decompression:
- Pregnant women
- People with broken vertebrae
- People with advanced osteoporosis
- People who have had spinal fusion
- People who have an artificial disc or other implants in their spine
- People with failed back surgery
- Anyone who has had multiple back surgeries without pain improvement
- People with spinal infection
- People with spinal tumor
- Any condition that may compromise the integrity of the spine
- Any condition requiring the patient to take blood thinner medication