Personal injury attorney Ben Schwartz interviews Dr. Doug Chervenak about his DRX 9000 spinal traction machine and finds out how it works for patients with spine pain resulting from automobile accidents, work-related injuries, and the like. Dr. Chervenak even provides a demonstration using the DRX 9000 on Ben’s law clerk, Chip!

Hey Folks, I’m Attorney Ben Schwartz,

Today we are going to do a special video with my special guest Dr. Douglas Chervenak. I also have my law clerk Chip Welch in the room with us, and Chip is going to help us out with the DRX 9000.

Today we are going to talk about the DRX 9000 machine which Dr. Chervinak has in his office. He’s the only doctor that I know of in the state of Delaware, at least that I know of, there might be other doctors in the state of Delaware that have a DRX 9000, but he’s the only one I know of who’s got this machine and it’s something special. So I figured we would shoot a quick video and have him talk about the machine and what it does.

Ben says:
So Doc, can you talk for a moment about what is a DRX 9000 machine?

Dr. Chervenak says:
It’s a very interesting machine. The principle of the DRX 9000 is to put traction in the right place. This is a spinal column, and these are the disc in the spinal column. The DRX, if it’s L5 and L4 disc like it is here, then we put the traction right there and expand the disc. It used to be known or thought that this didn’t expand but it does. People that go up to the space station, they are finding they are actually growing in size because these discs, all of them enlarge.

Ben says:
I want to ask you a question unrelated to the machine, but on this note of disc expanding, enlarging. I was told that I was six foot one inch. Then I’m almost 50 years old, I got measured again, and it turns out I’m not six foot one anymore. And, I was told that my spinal column is shrinking with age. Is that related to what we are talking about?

Dr. Chervenak says:
Yes, they lose hydration. They lose probably hydration because when a person goes up in the space station they rehydrate. There are identical twin astronauts. The one who spent 300 days in the space station is the brother of Mark Kelly, the senator from Arizona. He gained two inches over his brother.

Ben says:
Wow!

Dr. Chervenak says:
In 300 days.

Ben says:
Is that from not having the downward pressure?

Dr. Chervenak says:
That’s correct.

Ben says:
On the discs.

Dr. Chervenak says:
Gravity, gravity is a problem.

Ben says:
Gravity can be a problem for some of us.

Dr. Chervenak says:
Yes, it can and this is what it does. This is a … I show you the difference this does is that um, this is what, this is a treatment. It basically ramps up to Max and ramps down to half Maxx, wraps up. Now, in the ramping-up process, it stops. When you jerk the muscles of the back, there can be a reflex contraction. So this eliminates that contraction, then goes through 18 cycles. Here is the number of cycles and this is the measured load. It’s an amazing machine and it measures, you set the poundage and it gets right to the pound as far as the strength of the contraction.

Ben says:
um hum, but what it does is when you are on the machine it’s pulling open your spine

Dr. Chervinak says:
We target. See for example, if it’s L4, L5, we will press L4 on one treatment and you see, this goes up and down. Then the next treatment we will push 5 to get the differences in the L4 and L5 vertebrae.

Ben says:
So, opening up the spine and opening up those disc spaces, what kind of diagnoses or what kind of conditions does that treat?

Dr. Chervenak says:
Well, again let me get back to the spine. If you notice, the nerves come out next to the spine and these are discs, these are called facet joints. If with aging you can get narrowing of a disc and you get arthritis changes and that sort of thing, and get compression on the nerve. The front part of the nerve is the sensory part in the back part of the nerve is the motor part.

So if you get, most people get pain that runs down their leg and that’s called sciatica, but if you get weakness, then that means that the nerve is compressed to the point that it’s affecting the motor part of the nerve. Most of the time we are looking at people who the aging process, but sometimes falls. We will cause it that we are treating a lady now, who fell and hurt herself. Auto accidents can do it, old football injuries, the high school heroes, that sort of thing, that now they are in their 40s and 50s.

Ben says:
and the weekend warriors.

Dr. Chervenak says:
The Weekend Warriors, yes.

Ben says:
I might know one or two of them.

Dr. Chervenak says:
Yeah anyway, that’s what we do and we have an 80% success rate, which is kind of amazing when you think about it.

The other, reason I got this machine, we have a 15-year history, is because it doesn’t make people worse. It may not make them better, but it doesn’t make people worse. In the 15 years, we have had maybe five people that can’t tolerate the treatment.

So, it’s been very good at both for the neck and the back. I hate to tell the surgeons this, but I have kept a number of people out of the surgical suite because of the effectiveness of this treatment.

Ben says:
Very good! Do you think we could test it out? Maybe we can put Chip in there and a little traction around his hip?

Dr. Chervenak says:
Okay! Yes, we can. Here we are and this is Chip, and he is on the table. If you notice that here’s the traction around his hip. We immobilize the upper body with a strap here and this is for the armpits. So, um, and then we start the program, okay by running it. You see it?

Ben says:
So, what this is going to do, is correct just gonna pull. This pulls this way and the bench moves down.

Dr. Chervenak says:
You see the, here. This is the traction going up.

Ben says:
Oh, I see the traction is going up. How do you feel Chip?

Chip says:
I feel like I’m about to slip off here!

Ben says:
Yeah, do you feel like it’s pulling open your spine? Your low back?

Chip says:
In a good way.

Ben says:
Good!

Dr. Chervenak says:
As soon as we get…(long pause).

Ben says:
When this says ‘Measured Load 74.9 pounds, is that the amount of pressure that it’s pulling?

Dr. Chervenak says:
Yes, it’s up to 85 pounds.

Ben says:
Very good.

Chip says:
I feel a little something around here.

Dr. Chervenak says:
Put your head down, and relax.

Ben says:
Yeah relax, we’re going to stretch it out, and um.

Dr. Chervenak says:
Alexa, play nice music.

Alexa says:
Here’s a playlist you might like. Solo classical piano on Amazon music.

Ben says:
That’s great!

Dr. Chervenak says:
And sometimes we turn the light off and people go to sleep.

Ben says:
Nice! I also noticed that there’s a big screen up here in the unit itself.

Dr. Chervenak says:
Yes!

Ben says:
Like you can watch movies?

Dr. Chervenak says:
Yes!

Ben says:
Very good. How long does the cycle run?

Dr. Chervenak says:
About 30 some odd minutes.

Ben says:
Very good.

Dr. Chervenak says:
Then after that, what we’ve elected to do is, and not everybody does, we put a hot pad under their low back in case there are any residual spasms. How does it feel?

Chip says:
Fantastic!

Ben says:
That’s great!

Chip says:
And you are telling me, you are the only one in Delaware?

Dr. Chervenak says:
I am the only physician. There are chiropractors that have it, but I am the only physician. Because insurance, medical insurance will pay for this treatment?

Ben says:
Your health insurance pays.

Dr. Chervenak says:
Yes.

Ben says:
Very good.

Dr. Chervenak says:
Because I’m a physician and, um look we have 15 years experience, I mean hundreds and hundreds of people, and I’ve demonstrated that we have had three people that we have had to do MRIs?

No! No insurance company is going to pay for a post-MRI when they are better.

Ben says:
Right!

Dr. Chervenak says:
But we had three people that got worse and the disc that we treated either had enlarged or healed, on the three people that we have post-MRI’s.

Now the company, Excite Medical, is now doing post-MRI’s. They should have done that a long time ago. This demonstrates that the disc is enlarged. As far as I’m concerned with 15 years of experience, this should be part of mainstream medicine before you do anything else, before you do any surgery, you should try this machine.

Ben says:
Sure, absolutely. Well, I would love to try this machine next time I get a flare-up of back pain, I’m going to call you.

If people are watching the video and they want to contact you and make an appointment, how do they get in contact with you? Where is your office located?

Dr. Chevernak says:
The office is located at 671, Alexa Stop! 671 South Carter Road in Smyrna. Our phone number is 302-653-1050. The consultation for anybody with back pain is initially free and at no charge, but please bring your MRI.

Otherwise, I’m going to order an MRI. Hopefully, they will pay for it. But that absolutely distinguishes what disc we’re going to treat.

Ben says:
Sure, absolutely and this is something where you can target the specific disc.

Dr. Chervenak says:
Correct.

Ben says:
And the way it does it is by changing the angle of the traction.

Dr. Chervenak says:
Correct!

Ben says:
That is fascinating.

Well, thanks very much Doc. I appreciate you taking the time to do a video and a demonstration.

Dr. Chervenak says:
My pleasure.

Ben says:
Folks, if you have questions about this, I can always pass questions along to Dr. Chervenak. If you have questions in general about the practice of law or personal injury litigation, something you think would make for an interesting video, send me an email. My email address is ben.schwartz@schwartzandschwartz.com.

Thanks for watching!