Retired computer programmer benefits from vertebral axial decompression.

Joseph Lloyd was in the Air Force when he was introduced to data processing in 1961. He developed a keen interest in the pursuit and centered his livelihood around it. Over the years, his career progressed along with the industry.

“Initially, I was what they called a punch card operator,” Joseph recalls. “Back then, there was no computer, per se. There were IBM punch card machines. We fed the cards into the machines, and the machines would print out reports.

“There were other jobs within the field I did as well. I was a systems programmer and a supervisor. I worked for the Boston Stock Exchange (now part of NASDAQ) for 24 years. I was in charge of systems and trading floor operations. I retired in 2004.”

A native of Massachusetts, Joseph lived in the Bay State for most of his life. After he retired, he moved to western Tennessee and resided there for nearly 17 years. In 2021, he relocated to Florida, where he spends his days basking in the sunshine.

Joseph, 79, enjoyed golfing and other outdoors activities until two years ago, when he was seriously injured in an automobile accident. The lingering effects hampered his ability to move freely and curtailed his athletic endeavors.

“The accident occurred when somebody made a left turn in front of me,” Joseph remembers. “Didn’t use a signal or anything. They were heading in the opposite direction and T-boned me, totaling my car and giving me the opportunity to have my first helicopter ride. It wasn’t fun. I broke some ribs, my collarbone and my arm. Plus, I severely injured my back.”

Joseph’s broken bones ultimately healed, but his back continued to cause him intense discomfort.

“My back pain made doing a lot of simple things harder,” Joseph relates. “I had a difficult time making the bed and taking dishes out of the dishwasher. Anything that required bending was very painful. I could only walk for about three minutes and then I had to stop because of the pain. On a scale of one to 10, my back pain hit 10 regularly.”

Seeking a Solution

Over the ensuing two years, Joseph tried multiple treatments seeking to ease the pain in his low back. These included several courses of physical therapy and epidural steroid injections. Neither brought him sustained relief.

“I started getting the shots while living in Tennessee,” Joseph explains. “I went to Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville. But the injections didn’t do anything for me. Several doctors recommended back surgery, but at my age, I wanted that to be the very last option. I didn’t want to spend a couple of years recuperating from surgery. And not being young, I didn’t know how I would react to it.”

Wanting to avoid an extensive surgical procedure, Joseph next tried spinal cord stimulation, a minimally invasive approach in which a small device that disrupts pain signals to the brain is implanted near the hip.

“That didn’t work either,” Joseph reports. “I needed something else to treat my pain, so I looked around for alternatives and came across Dr. Aderholdt and his VAX-D^® therapy. I decided to give it a try.”

Innovative Technology

Craig S. Aderholdt, DC, is the founder of Back Pain Institute of West Florida, which has offices in Bradenton and Sarasota. At the institute, Dr. Aderholdt provides the most advanced treatments for severe pain.

One of those treatments is VAX-D therapy, a patented, FDA-approved medical decompression technique for alleviating pressure on spinal discs. Dr. Aderholdt is one of the few doctors in the country offering VAX-D, or vertebral axial decompression.

“Joseph came to our clinic suffering from a great deal of pain from herniated and bulging spinal discs caused by trauma to his back,” recalls Dr. Aderholdt. “Based on our evaluation and testing, I recommended VAX-D therapy.”

VAX-D is not a traction device,

Dr. Aderholdt stresses. It works differently and achieves substantially better results.

“For many patients, chiropractic adjustments alone can relieve their pain,” he contends. “However, for select people with conditions such as sciatica or herniated, bulging or degenerated discs, VAX-D therapy has proven extremely successful.”

Dr. Aderholdt reports that VAX-D is effective at alleviating low back and neck pain. It also helps with numbness, tingling and pain that radiates down the arms and legs.

Because Joseph had significant low back pain that affected his activities, he was considered an excellent candidate for the therapy.

During a VAX-D session, the patient relaxes on a comfortable, computer-controlled table and is secured by a pelvic belt or patented cervical collar, depending on the area being treated.

Carefully specified tension and pressure changes guide the use of VAX-D, allowing the therapist to focus decompression at the level of dysfunction. The computer program enables the table to make subtle but targeted movements that create a powerful vacuum within the disc space. This vacuum gently draws the disc back to its proper orientation, pulling in nutrient-rich spinal fluid and stimulating repair cells that effectively mend the disc.

 

“Before I completed the full course of treatments, my pain level was already less than half of what it was.” – Joseph

“No other treatment can create such a powerful vacuum,” Dr. Aderholdt asserts. “There are imitators, but VAX-D’s vacuum effect is the most powerful. That is what makes VAX-D such a valuable tool for pain relief. Further, VAX-D doesn’t allow the muscles to contract the way other machines can. In fact, it is the only nonsurgical treatment that has been clinically proven to reduce disc pressure to negative levels.

“In my opinion, VAX-D is one of the most effective nonsurgical medical treatments for low back pain, neck pain and sciatica. This innovative technology is one more tool I can offer patients as we work toward relieving pain and maintaining the health of the
lumbar and cervical spine.”

Studies show that VAX-D has been effective in treating more than 88 percent of patients,

Dr. Aderholdt attests. Many patients report a significant reduction in back or neck pain after only a few treatments, although Dr. Aderholdt stresses that actual healing takes longer because repositioning bulging or herniated discs requires a full series of sessions.
“Some patients think they will get relief after a handful of sessions and they can just quit, but that’s not the case,” he emphasizes. “Patients must follow through with all of the required treatments to get the full benefit.”

Another advantage of VAX-D is that it can eliminate the need for surgery.

“Many patients with severe back or neck pain, including Joseph, want to avoid surgery, and that is something VAX-D allows them to do,” Dr. Aderholdt notes. “With surgery, there is the potential for serious complications, including bleeding and infection. Because VAX-D is noninvasive, those complications are avoided.”

Substantial Benefits

Joseph agreed with Dr. Aderholdt’s recommendation and began receiving VAX-D therapy last summer. As is often the case, he began to benefit from the treatment after only a few sessions.

“Before I completed the full course of treatments, my pain level was already less than half of what it was,” Joseph enthuses. “It was probably a three or four on average, where it was 10 before, so I’m very happy with the results.

With less pain, Joseph is doing more of the activities he struggled with before starting VAX-D therapy.

“I can bend and pick things up off of the floor now, and I can walk for more than three minutes,” he reports. “In fact, my wife and I try to walk a mile every day, and I’m doing very well with that.”

“My treatment at Back Pain Institute of West Florida has been a success so far, so I’m very glad that I found Dr. Aderholdt and his VAX-D solution.”

© FHCN article by Patti DiPanfilo. mkb