Simi doctor using space-age technology to treat back pain
By Angela Randazzo Special to the Acorn

IRIS SMOOT/Acorn Newspapers ZERO GRAVITY- Simi resident Randy Carlton undergoes treatment administered by the DRX 9000, a NASA-inspired machine which temporarily eliminates gravity's pressure on the spine. Carlton, who said he's suffered from back pain for 15 years, said the treatment is helping.

During their countless studies of space travel and its effects on the human body, NASA scientists discovered that astronauts who left Earth with lower back pain no longer felt the pain once they entered the zero-gravity of outer space.

This discovery is being put to use right here in Simi Valley by Daniel Ghiyam, MD, a general practitioner at Simi Doctors Medical Clinic.

"In space there's no gravity. There's nothing pushing down on the discs so the astronauts didn't have any pain," he explained.

Ghiyam, who took over the clinic in 2001, has invested in a state-of-the-art machine, the DRX 9000, that offers a spaceage alternative to drugs and surgery to alleviate back pain.

With the DRX 9000 treatment, the injured vertebrae are isolated and the machine pulls on the discs, causing a negative pressure as if there's no gravity on them, Ghiyam said.

A patient must first get an MRI to make sure he or she is a candidate for the procedure. The problem should be with the spine and not with the muscles.

Treatment begins with the patient fitted into two harnesses: a pelvic harness secured snuggly around the hips and a chest harness fastened underneath the rib cage. The patient then reclines on the adjustment bed of the machine.

The chest harness locks into place at the top of the bed. The pelvic harness attaches to a computercontrolled motor inside the DRX 9000 tower.

"You put information into the computer- the height, weight, gender of the patient and what level you want the machine to pull," Ghiyam said.

A session takes about 30 minutes and is followed by physical therapy to help strengthen the back muscles. Ghiyam recommends about 20 sessions for positive results.

The cost of those 20 sessions ranges from $4,600 to $4,850 without insurance, but Ghiyam pointed out many health plans do cover at least the physical therapy portion of the treatment.

John Fusano III, 29, came to the clinic with a painful herniated disc, an injury he suffered playing football in high school. He started the treatments in November, driving to Simi from his home in Castaic.

"When I first drove to the clinic, I had to keep moving to get the pressure off my back," Fusano said. "The treatments got the pressure off. Now I can drive for hours without the pain."

Fusano had more than 20 treatments, tapering from four sessions a week to two. "My back's still a little sore but I'm not getting the sharp pains I used to get," Fusano said. "I would definitely recommend it, especially if someone is thinking about surgery. I would try this first."

Ghiyam said that other types of spinal therapy have a "racklike" effect, causing sore back muscles. "The old machines pulled the whole spine. When you pull the whole spine, the body senses it and the muscles tighten up," Ghiyam said. "It becomes a tug of war between the muscles tightening up and the machine pulling on the spine."

Simi Doctors Medical Clinic is located at 2840 Los Angeles Ave. and can be reached at (805) 526-8360.