Evidence on the Ability of a Pneumatic Decompression Belt to Restore Spinal Height Following an Acute Bout of Exercise

ObjectiveThe purpose of this study was to evaluate the ability of a pneumatic decompression belt to restore spinal height lost following an acute bout of exercise that induced compression.MethodsThis study implemented a test-retest repeated measures design in which twelve participants (male = 10, female = 2) age, 21.5 ± 1.0 years; height, 179.0 ± 7.70 cm; weight, 84.0 ± 11.5 kg; were recruited from a university population and acted as their own control. All participants were healthy with no previous history of disabling back pain, and were frequent weight trainers. A stadiometer was used to measure spinal height at baseline, then following an acute bout of exercise and then again following the intervention (use of a pneumatic decompression belt for 20 minutes) or control (lying supine for 20 minutes). A 2-way repeated measures ANOVA was performed on the change in spinal height in order to evaluate differences between measurement phases and intervention conditions.ResultsThe use of the decompression belt increased spinal height gain (4.3 ± 3.0 mm) significantly more than the control condition (1.8 ± 1.2 mm) following an acute bout of weightlifting exercises known to elicit high compressive loads on the lumbar spine.ConclusionThe pneumatic decompression belt restored spinal height faster than a non-belt wearing condition in young healthy asymptomatic participants.