After getting into a car wreck eight years ago, Patrick Cassidy was in pain that gradually grew worse and worse.

By this spring, the pain began getting severe, limiting his ability to golf, sail or do other physical activities. Multiple visits to several chiropractors and a naturopathic doctor were no help. In time, the pain grew so bad, Cassidy coul only work two to three hours a day.

On a referral from his naturopath, Cassidy tried another chiropractor, Nicholas Smith of Active Life Chiropractic Centre. X-rays showed Cassidy had a compressed disc in his neck.

Smith suggested Cassidy try decompression therapy, a computer-controlled system that separates the discs in the spine to create a vaccuum, allowing water and nutrients to flow into the disc to aid in healing. Active Life has Helena's only decompression therapy system.

After a few visits, Cassidy felt improvement. After about eight treatments, he said, the pain was all but gone.

"It's still there but it's very low level compared to what it was," he said.

The procedure can help with a number of problems related to bulging discs, including disc herniation, radiating pain or pain down the arm associated with a disc problem in the neck, and sciatica, or pain down the leg.

The machine works by slowly increasing the force to create space between the discs. Traditional traction, on the other hand, applies force all at once, which triggers a "guarding" effect in the muscles that stabilize the spine.

"The problem with discs is they don't have a blood supply," Smith said. "Appropriately applied the results (with decompression) can be flat-out amazing."

There are also conditions that the machine cannot be used to help, Smith said. Those include osteoporosis, unhealed or unstable fractures, underlying diseases such as tumors, unstable post-surgical conditions or or any kind of surgical hardware.

According to Cassidy the machine isn't painful, although there is some discomfort involved.

"By the end of it I'm glad to be off of it," he said. "It's not terribly uncomfortable, but my neck's pretty darn warm."

Smith said typically patients are scheduled for 20 sesssions, after which the disc problems go into remission. Some people who have more demanding jobs or lifestyles need to go on a maintenance program.

Cinda Eichenfels had a similar experience to Cassidy's. Suffering from lower back pain that radiated down her leg, Eichenfels said the intensity of her pain would come and go, frequently reaching an 8 on a 10-point scale.

Though she was a bit skeptical at first, she decided to give decompression therapy a try, and began seeing Smith on a regular basis, three times a week.

"I didn't know what to think," Eichenfels said. "I thought, well, I hope this works. It was better than hope."

She started feeling better after about the third or fourth treatment and said the pain is now sometimes down to zero. But, she said, she sees the treatments as an ongoing maintenance program.

"I'm almost pain free," she said. "If I start pounding my spine with the horse riding, I get in there."