What the DRX9000 is, and what it isn't
Strip the branding off and the DRX9000 is a treatment table with a motor, a computer and a harness. The computer sets how hard the table pulls along the lower spine and in what rhythm, and the harness carries that pull to your pelvis.
That's it. A controlled, repeating pull.
It isn't surgery. It isn't an adjustment either, and its FDA clearance isn't a ruling on whether it repairs discs (more on that wording below).
In the FDA's database the DRX9000 sits under “Equipment, Traction, Powered”, product code ITH, regulation 21 CFR 890.5900. Clearance K060735 went to Axiom Worldwide of Tampa, Florida, on May 26, 2006; Excite Medical now owns the DRX9000's intellectual property and clearances.
Excite Medical's list of uses is broad: radicular pain, posterior facet syndrome, degenerative disc disease and herniated discs, all under low back pain and sciatica. We use it more narrowly. Facet pain is on the manufacturer's list but not on ours, and neither is sacroiliac or muscular pain.
At Mecham Chiropractic the table is for pain that behaves like a disc problem, most often at L4–L5 or L5–S1, such as a herniated disc or degenerative disc disease.
“FDA-cleared” isn't “approved”: why the word matters
This distinction gets blurred constantly. Well, often enough that a national investigation made a point of it.
Clearance means the FDA compared the DRX9000 with powered traction equipment already on the market and found it “Substantially Equivalent”. That's a decision about which category the device belongs in. It isn't a finding that the table shrinks herniations, rebuilds discs or outperforms other care.
When John Hill looked into decompression tables for FairWarning in November 2020, his report said it plainly: these devices are cleared, not approved. So if an ad pairs this table with the word approved, you've learned something about the ad.
Whether the table helps is a question for trials, not paperwork. The DRX9000 study clinics cite most, from Christian Apfel's team in 2010, had no comparison group and was sponsored on behalf of Axiom Worldwide; our read of the rest is on does spinal decompression work.
Why the pull cycles instead of holding steady
Here's a detail that sounds minor and isn't.
Pull steadily on a spine and the muscles alongside it guard, tightening against the stretch. So the DRX9000 raises the force, eases it off and raises it again, aiming for a pull those muscles don't fight.
Picture merging onto I-15 at five o'clock: the driver who eases in gets let in, and the one who forces it meets a wall of brake lights. Same idea, more or less. Whether dodging that guarding makes decompression work better hasn't been shown, though, and we won't dress a mechanism up as evidence.
A DRX9000 session at Mecham Chiropractic
Nobody goes on the table before an exam.
Dr. Cody Mecham starts with your history, an orthopedic exam and any imaging that's relevant. It also screens people out, and non-candidates are told plainly:
- a spinal fracture, or a spine that's unstable
- screws, rods or cages from a fusion
- active cancer involving the spine
- bone thinned by osteoporosis past a safe point
- an aortic aneurysm, or a pregnancy
Signs of cauda equina syndrome, such as losing bladder or bowel control, are an emergency and go to surgical evaluation instead.
For candidates, a session lasts about 20 to 30 minutes in a pelvic harness. Plans usually run 20 to 30 sessions across 8 to 12 weeks, and they carry a checkpoint: if treatments 8 to 12 bring no meaningful change, the plan gets reconsidered. Some next-day soreness early on can happen, but real pain on the table means we stop and reassess.
Chiropractic care and guidance on position and movement go with the table, and the visit-by-visit detail lives on what to expect from spinal decompression.
What DRX9000 treatment costs
We can give you one sourced figure. It's national, and it's six years old.
FairWarning reported in 2020 that a full course of DRX9000 sessions ran about $3,500, and that insurers generally wouldn't pay for it; Medicare wouldn't. Mecham Chiropractic doesn't publish a price, because the plan gets priced after the exam, once Dr. Cody Mecham knows whether you're a candidate at all.
A quote for someone who shouldn't be on the table isn't worth having. Questions to ask before paying anyone are on spinal decompression cost in Salt Lake City.
Is there a DRX9000 near me?
In the Salt Lake Valley, there's one at Mecham Chiropractic, 4700 South 900 East #16, on the Murray–Millcreek line.
We can't tell you how many other clinics run the same table, and we won't guess. Weigh the trip instead. A plan of 20 to 30 visits spread over 8 to 12 weeks works out to roughly two to four visits a week, through inversion-season air, spring road work and the Saturdays you'd rather spend up Big Cottonwood Canyon.
Pick a clinic you'll actually keep going to. Then start with the exam: book with the clinic or phone (801) 590-8615.