Ultimate Portable, Comfortable Back Stretcher/Lumbar Traction

I recently moved to rural New Mexico, and it is two hours to the nearest physical therapy location. My doctor wanted me to continue doing mechanical low back traction, which was very expensive at PT, and now is unavailable to me--so I bought this. I wish I would have found the Spinal Stretch months ago! It works just as well as the pricey prescription PT on the "real" machine, and I can feel it helping to decompress my lower back. I was diagnosed with damage to the L4 vertebra, and was told that traction would help heal it. This has proved to be true so far. This device also helps to relieve pain. In addition. Dr. Starr has the best customer service I have ever experienced. My first order was lost in the mail, and he not only believed me, but sent me a second Spinal Stretch to replace it. You can trust this company, and this product.

This item is extremely well built and well designed. The only reason I am giving it 4 stars instead of 5 is that all of the documentation, including text printed on the unit itself, refers to spinalstretch.com. However, my browser was not able to find a website named spinalstretch.com. That causes a little uneasiness. What happened to the website? Why is it no longer active?

I went searching for something like this because my back had been craving the kind traction that I got on the fancy electric table at the physical therapy office. The pull-up bar sling thing didn't fit my doorway. Inversion table? Huge and not a fan of laying upside down for 20 minutes. I am seriously so glad I found this.Quality/Construction: 10/10. This thing is totally solid, all the way through. Quality metal, straps z belt and parts. You can feel it - no doubts here.Design: Ingenious in it's simplicity. Easy to use and control.The stretch: The stretch I get with this feels nearly identical to what I get in the PT office from the traction table. This one can't raise and lower the tension in a given session the way the machine does, but that's about it.Plush this is the most portable option. I slide it under my bed after use. Out of sight, super easy.

I think this device is a brilliant idea. From reading the reviews, it's been very helpful for many people. Unfortunately for me, it didn't work. It actually exacerbated the sciatica I had. At first I tried to convince myself that there was no basis to my pain increasing in my glut after I'd use the device. I told my PT about what was happening, and he suggested I use a pillow under my thigh and a (smaller) rolled up towel under the small of my back-in effort to spare my butt cheek. That didn't work either. Again, my sciatica worsened directly as a result of using this item. I'm better off to use 10# weight on my ankle in the swimming pool (wearing a lifejacket as to no drown myself!) for a better, smooth comfortable stretch to my leg/back. This was certainly worth the try-especially if you're desperate.

problem is every time you crank the handle it pulls you towards the device, I tried every floor type as well as the chest grip belt...probably wasn't the best investment for me. Problem is when you can barely sit up or even roll over this is a nightmare to get into and setup.

I've suffered from pain with disc degeneration for a couple of years now, especially in the morning. Stretching in the morning only seemed to make things worse. I had also tried chiropractors with varying methods (stretching, inversion, muscle strengthening, etc.) and had no real success with my morning pain. So I bought this. I have had it for only a week, but already see an enormous improvement in my morning back pain--but I don't use it in the morning. I use it at night before going to bed, for 15 minutes. I sleep better and I wake up able to do my morning workouts, showers, dishwasher emptying, etc. without any pain at all. It really is a miracle for me to be able to do decompression effectively and on my back's schedule instead of a chiropractor's. I can't say yet how long the effect will last, but if it doesn't, then it certainly won't be the fault of this device, which seems to be very sturdily built. Best of all, it's light and compact enough that I can take it on vacation. I can't say enough good things about it.

Way overpaid for this. Not worth the cost. Never worked for me either. The band slips and is uncomfortable

After just using SPINAL STRETCH for one time I experienced relief from my back pain that was beginning to really get nasty. Every year I've needed to get my back stretched due to disc problems. About 6 treatments worth and then I'm fine for the rest of the year...I've been lucky to get my insurance to pay for these treatments. When I saw Dr. David Starr's new invention I thought that would be all I'd need to do the same that my clinic was doing on a much more expensive machine...So, I took a gamble that this simple device would do the job and it does...I'm really happy with the purchase...This Spinal Stretch takes a big load off my back. The pain that was starting to develop in my right hip disappeared right after a 15 minute session with this back stretcher. Now I use the unit each week to keep the back stretched to allow my spinal discs to move so the intervertebral discs can draw fluid from my back...These are the discs that when low in fluid touch a nerve that cause pain. So, if this is your problem and you need a treatment to stretch your back this simple but effective device is your answer...