What is spinal decompression — and could it help your back?

Sciatica that won't quit. A herniated disc that flares every time you bend wrong. Neck pain that's crept in from a decade of screens. If you've already tried rest, stretching, and a standard adjustment and the pain keeps coming back, you've probably had the same thought a lot of our Waco patients have: is surgery the only thing left? Usually, no. We recently added spinal decompression to what we offer at Landmark here in Waco — and it's built for exactly this gap, the pain that's stubborn but not yet an operating-room problem.

What spinal decompression actually is

Spinal decompression is a non-surgical therapy that uses gentle, computer-controlled traction to take pressure off a compressed disc or an irritated nerve. There's no cracking, no forced stretching, and no straps holding you down — the machine pulls in slow, precise cycles, adjusted to what your body can handle, gradually creating space between the vertebrae so a disc has room to move back where it belongs and a pinched nerve gets some breathing room. We use two FDA-cleared systems depending on where the problem is: Back On Trac for the lower back, and Cervi-Trac for the neck.

What it's actually built for

Decompression isn't a general wellness treatment — it's built for a specific kind of problem we see often in Waco patients: pressure on a disc or a nerve that hasn't let up on its own. That covers:

• Herniated and bulging discs
• Sciatica and radiating leg pain
• Chronic low back pain
• Neck and cervical disc pain
• Pinched nerve pain
• Pregnancy-related back pain

What a session actually looks like

We don't put anyone on the table blind. Before you ever see the machine, you get a thorough evaluation — decompression only helps if it's actually targeting the right problem, so that comes first, every time. A session itself takes about 12 minutes: gentle, computer-controlled traction cycles, gradually adjusted to your tolerance. Relief tends to build over a series of sessions across several weeks, not in one visit — and we often pair it with adjustments using our Torque Release Technique so the whole spine, not just the one segment, is working the way it should.

"No straps, no forced stretching, no cracking — just slow, precise traction, adjusted to what your body can actually handle."

Why consider it before surgery

Surgery isn't wrong for everyone, but it's not nothing, either — recovery time, risk, and no guarantee the pain doesn't come back. Decompression gives a compressed disc or nerve room to heal on its own first, without the downtime. We'll verify your insurance and walk through real costs before you commit to anything, so there's no surprise bill buried in the process.

Why choose Landmark for spinal decompression in Waco

Not every chiropractic office in Waco offers computer-controlled decompression — and among the ones that do, not all of them start with a real evaluation before you're on the table. At Landmark, decompression isn't a machine bolted onto business as usual. It's overseen by Dr. Andrew Oestreich, D.C., integrated with the same Torque Release Technique we use for every adjustment, and run on FDA-cleared equipment — Back On Trac and Cervi-Trac — built specifically for this kind of therapy. You'll know your treatment plan and your real costs upfront, and you're cared for by the same team throughout, not handed off to a machine and left alone in the room.

Ready to find out if spinal decompression is right for you?

If a herniated disc, sciatica, or a back that's stopped responding to anything else sounds familiar, you can read more about our spinal decompression care or go ahead and book a first visit at our Waco office to find out if it's the right fit for you.