Surgical vs. non-surgical neck decompression
They share a name and not much else.
Surgical cervical decompression is an operation, and if a surgeon has recommended one, nothing here replaces that conversation. Non-surgical decompression is powered traction: a cervical cradle takes the place of the low-back harness, and a computer applies a pull that builds and releases in cycles rather than holding steady, because a constant pull makes the surrounding muscles guard against it.
The DRX9000 line has a neck model, the DRX9000C-SL Cervical Spinal Decompression System, and its FDA clearance letter arrived on June 18, 2025, as a Class II device. Cleared, not approved; the DRX9000 page explains why that word matters.
How neck disc trouble tends to feel, and the signs that change everything
University of Utah Health lists neck pain among the reasons for decompression therapy, along with bulging or herniated discs, degenerative disc disease and radiculopathy, which is pain that follows an irritated nerve root out toward a shoulder or arm. Mecham Chiropractic uses decompression for disc problems, not for pain from the small facet joints or from muscle, and sorting those apart is the exam's first job.
Think of a January inversion week, when the valley sits under a gray lid and you spend five straight days hunched over a laptop indoors. By Friday your neck has opinions. Whether that's a disc, a joint or a tight muscle changes what makes sense next.
Here's the part that matters more than any table.
See a physician before any neck decompression if you notice:
- clumsy hands, like handwriting that's slipping, fumbled buttons or trouble feeding yourself
- poor balance, trouble walking, or falls
- numbness or tingling in your arms, hands or fingers
- weakness in your arms, shoulders or hands
The American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons lists these as possible signs of spinal cord compression in the neck, and neck pain or stiffness can be part of that same picture. If arm weakness is spreading or getting worse, don't wait for a scheduled visit.
Low in the spine, the same disc changes have their own pages: herniated disc treatment and degenerative disc disease treatment.
What does the research say about neck decompression?
Less than you'd hope, and we'd rather show you the gap than paper over it.
Every study we can point to here is about the low back. The 2013 Cochrane review by Wegner and colleagues, 32 randomized trials and 2,762 people, studied traction for low back pain and found little or no effect on pain, function, overall improvement or return to work. Christian Apfel's 2010 DRX9000 study, where pain fell from 6.2 to 1.6, measured lumbar discs in 30 patients without a control group, and Macario and Pergolizzi's 2006 review of chronic disc-related low back pain still called motorized decompression unproven.
So what about necks? We don't know of a controlled trial of the DRX9000C-SL, and we'd be guessing if we quoted a result for it. Its 2025 clearance puts it in the same powered traction category as the original table, which describes what the device is rather than proving it relieves anything.
Insurers got to a similar place by a different road. Medicare hasn't covered vertebral axial decompression since 1997, citing insufficient scientific data, and Aetna's bulletin, last reviewed in March 2026, calls it experimental, investigational or unproven.
Where does that leave you? With a treatment that's cleared, unproven and plausible enough that some people want to try it, which is why Mecham Chiropractic treats any neck plan as a trial with a checkpoint rather than a commitment. Our full look at whether spinal decompression works goes through the back research in detail.
Who isn't a candidate
Mecham Chiropractic screens out anyone with a fracture or an unstable spine, fusion hardware, cancer active in the spine, osteoporosis below a safe level, a pregnancy or an aortic aneurysm. Anyone with the cord-compression signs above waits until a physician has looked. If you're not a candidate, Dr. Cody Mecham will tell you so.
What neck decompression looks like at Mecham Chiropractic
First, the exam. Dr. Cody Mecham takes a history, runs orthopedic testing and reviews relevant imaging, and with a neck that includes checking for every sign in the warning box.
Decompression at the clinic sits inside a plan with chiropractic care and guidance on positions and movement. Its decompression plans generally run 20 to 30 visits across roughly 8 to 12 weeks, about 20 to 30 minutes each; ask whether a neck plan follows that shape. Treatments 8 to 12 are the checkpoint, and a plan without meaningful improvement by then gets reconsidered.
Next-day soreness early on isn't unusual. Real pain during a session stops it. The guide to spinal decompression sessions walks through a plan step by step.
Inversions lift eventually. A neck that keeps hurting after the air clears is worth an exam.
What it costs
Assume it's out of pocket: beyond Medicare and Aetna, University of Utah Health Plans doesn't cover vertebral axial decompression either. One reported figure, about $3,500 for a full DRX9000 course in FairWarning's 2020 reporting, predates the neck model's 2025 clearance, so treat it as context rather than a neck price.
See spinal decompression pricing in Salt Lake City and what Utah insurance says about decompression.