1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to chiropractic treatment tables. Particularly, the present invention related to chiropractic treatment tables of the type for generally horizontally supporting a patient in a face-down position.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The treatment of various maladies of the human body by means of the manipulation of the muscles and skeletal structure thereof, commonly referred to as “the practice of chiropractic”, has become a widely used and accepted art. One such treatment regimen is to manipulate the muscles, ligaments and the osseous skeletal structures of the spine. The intervertebral disc is the strongest ligament of the spine. The architecture of a lumbar vertebra and the mechanics of a lumbar joint and the toughness of even a damaged disc do not allow for a lot of movement between adjacent vertebrae. Injury and degredation of the disc causes a breakdown of the disc and thus the deterioration of the intervertebral joint, which adversely affects the nervous system. A vertebral misalignment, the so called “subluxation,” can only occur when the integrity of the disc has failed. Consequently, the optimal relationship between adjacent vertebrae gets interrupted and back pain, leg pain, muscle spasm and other signs and symptoms and abdominal problems appear. The same mechanisms apply and results manifest in the head, neck and upper torso, including shoulders, arms and hands, if there is injury to and deterioration of discs in the cervical spine and/or the thoracic spine.
Various chiropractic tables have been developed to facilitate this type of chiropractic and manual treatment. The conventional commercial table typically includes an elongated, padded platform or table on which a patient reclines. The table is further provided with means for securing the patient's extremities, e.g., the patient's ankles and a support of the arms. The conventional table is typically made up of two sections. One section is called the cephalad section, which is fixed, immovable and supported by rigid legs or support columns that rest on the floor. The other section is called the caudal section, which supports the patient's lower body. On the conventional chiropractic table the fixed or immobile cephalad section supports the patient's head and trunk including the pelvis The patient's legs are supported by the mobile or flexible caudal section. The table provides means for tiltably raising and lowering (extension and flexion, respectively), laterally bending, rotating and extending the lower body with respect to the upper body or the fixed support section. Such treatment tables have proven to be valuable aids to the practitioner of chiropractic medicine. Various treatment methods for patients suffering from spinal and related nerve, muscle, and skeletal maladies have been devised using such tables.
The mobile section is used to carry out flexiondistraction, also known as “decompression”. The term “decompression” means that the nerve roots and/or the spinal cord are being decompressed. The distraction acts on the intervertebral discs since the vertebrae, being bone, resist decompression. “Flexion” is the bending of the spine at the lumbar level. Flexion is to the anterior (i.e., towards the floor). This should be associated by the patient with a comfortable and pleasant sensation of “stretching.” Distraction is the separation of the cushions of the treatment table, and thus the spine, in the horizontal plane. In a few tables lateral bending is possible. This is also known as “lateral flexion.” This movement by itself should also feel as a comfortable stretching sensation; but happens only if not too much force is applied. Fewer tables still have the option of “axial rotation.” This means the mobile caudal section can swivel along the longitudinal axis of the table. In flexion, the whole disc is affected, though the emphasis is on the posterior part of the disc. In lateral bending the left side or the right side of the disc is being stretched. Stretching the disc has a stimulating and restorative effect on the disc. It helps the disc to regain its normal height and shape.
In flexiondistraction treatments, the patient is prone on the treatment table. Unphysiologic movement appears when flexiondistraction, lateral bending and axial rotation are combined, with time, the fourth dimension, in one action.
Therefore, what is needed is a device that facilitates the combined use of flexion and distraction, lateral bending and axial rotation so as not to introduce unphysiologic damaging forces into the lumbar spine during treatment.