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I saw many patients in my hospital that complained of low back pain, neck pain, or radiating pain and were continuously being treated by conservative methods of treatment such as physical therapy, medication, and so forth, yet they repetitively went into remission and often the situation was exacerbated. Therefore, I began to think of way in which I could free them from the pain.. There are several methods of conservative treatment: bed rest, heat treatment, electric therapy, chiropractic manipulation, and traction. Traction, if appropriate, is the most widely used method for the treatment of minor cases because of its ability to reduce a protruding disc. Orthopedic traction and maintaining proper posture are the two most important treatments among the conservative physical therapies. The other forms of conservative treatment are used for symptomatic treatments. Over ninety percent of the time, patients who suffer from a slipped (herniated) disc can be treated by some form of conservative treatment. The other form of treatment is surgery. Patients who require surgery (below 10%) most often have a ruptured or hard disc, or a compressed spinal cord. For these types of cases, surgery is more suitable than conservative treatment. I began to think of various methods to stretch the spine such as by using springs, syringes, an air cylinder, magnets, and bellows. Finally, I came up with the idea that led to the development of AIRTRACK, circularly layered inflatable, and expandable tubes. I wanted to design a product that would allow slipped discs to be conveniently cured with no concern to the patient about time or place. As I refined and clinically tested the AIRTRACK I found that they were more efficient than I had expected. Many patients who had strained as well as slipped discs immediately remarked that their pain had subsided. Furthermore, they were able to recover their range of motion after only a few seconds of use, and were able to move without difficulty and freely enjoy their daily lives. There are seldom treatments to eliminate pain and perform causal treatment with immediate effect. In this case, I could hardly think of elimination of pain except anesthetics, or reduction from dislocation. Because of the results, I began to think about role of medical treatment as the concept of ¡°life care¡±. The basis of this idea is that all of us, in the medical profession, should make sincere efforts to assist in the health of human beings. | ||||||||
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