SR-71 from Sego Lily Drive
Leave Sandy City Hall on Centennial Parkway, head east on Sego Lily Drive to 700 East, and turn north. That's SR-71. Stay on it as it becomes 900 East through Midvale and Murray, right up to the junction with Van Winkle Expressway; the plaza is just past it on your left.
Rather take the freeway? Fair enough. Sandy has three I-15 exits, at 9000 South, 10600 South and 11400 South, but the surface route is what the routing engine chose, and it's hard to get lost on.
Match days, mountain slopes and a mining past
America First Field opened on October 8, 2008, as Rio Tinto Stadium, and it's home to Real Salt Lake and Utah Royals FC. A match means a long stretch in a stadium seat, the walk back to the car, then the drive home, and for a disc that dislikes sitting, the morning after can be worse than the game.
East Sandy climbs the Wasatch slopes while the west side sits on the valley floor. So January shoveling on the east side happens on a tilt.
A quick tangent. Sandy incorporated in 1893 and grew up as a supply station for the silver mines in Little Cottonwood Canyon, with three smelters of its own named Flagstaff, Mingo and Saturn. SR-209 still heads east from town to Alta Ski Resort, and whatever the day up there demands of your back, the drive down asks for more sitting.
Back to the point. Most of our decompression cases involve the lumbar spine, commonly the two lowest discs, L4–L5 and L5–S1, and those levels can send pain into the buttock, thigh and calf. That's often how a back problem ends up feeling like a leg problem.
A few honest points before you book
If you're weighing an 8.2-mile drive, weigh the whole plan with it.
- It starts with an exam. Dr. Cody Mecham reviews your history, runs an orthopedic exam and looks at relevant imaging before decompression is even suggested.
- A plan usually means 20 to 30 visits over 8 to 12 weeks, which is a lot of trips up SR-71.
- There's a checkpoint: without meaningful improvement in the first 8 to 12 treatments, the plan is reconsidered.
- Some people aren't candidates at all: anyone pregnant or carrying fusion hardware, and people with spinal instability or a fracture, an aortic aneurysm, cancer active in the spine or osteoporosis below a safe threshold.
The evidence deserves a plain sentence too. When Macario and Pergolizzi reviewed the trials in 2006, 6 of the 7 randomized studies found no difference with motorized decompression, and our page on whether spinal decompression works covers what's come since, while what to expect during treatment covers the sessions themselves.
Closer in, SR-71 runs straight through Midvale as 900 East, and Cottonwood Heights comes in on Van Winkle Expressway. Want the overview of spinal decompression in Salt Lake City first? Start there, or schedule an appointment and talk it over at (801) 590-8615.