What is the evidence for Motorized Lumbar Traction Devices?
Recently, there has been an aggressive marketing campaign for a device (DRX9000) that purports using “space age technology” to provide “surgical decompression without surgery.” The DRX9000 is one of a number of spinal “distraction or decompression” devices currently in use in the medical community. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) subjects these devices to their class II controls. As with other devices in this category such as power wheelchairs, infusion pumps and surgical drapes, class II controls may include special labeling or post market surveillance requirements. The DX9000 is distributed by Axiom Technologies Worldwide. Advertisements from Axiom and clinics that purchase and promote this device make claims such as : “The DRX9000 is clinically proven to have an 86% success rate with patients suffering from lower back pain.” This marketing blitz has led to numerous inquiries from patients to their spine physicians. The cost of this intervention ranges into several thousands o
