Spinal decompression is marketed as a non-surgical fix for back pain, herniated discs, and sciatica. In practice, it usually means lying on a motorized table while a harness or pelvic belt pulls on your spine. Some tables are computer-controlled.
Others depend heavily on the provider’s choices about positioning, force, and monitoring. Most sessions end with nothing worse than temporary soreness.
But when a machine pulls too hard, a restraint slips, or a provider ignores warning signs, the result can be worsening nerve damage, a new injury, or a trip to the emergency room.
This guide explains how these claims work in New York, what evidence matters, and why the deadline depends on who treated you.
Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.
What Is Spinal Decompression ?
“Spinal decompression” in a chiropractic office or physical therapy clinic, it almost always means mechanical traction: a motorized or computerized table that applies a pulling force to the spine through a harness.
That’s very different from surgical decompression, such as a laminectomy or discectomy, where a surgeon removes tissue to relieve pressure on a nerve. It’s also different from spinal manipulation, which uses hands-on thrusts, and from inversion tables, which use gravity and body position rather than a motor.
Traction sessions often run 20 to 45 minutes and repeat over several weeks. The FDA regulates powered traction equipment as a Class II medical device under 21 CFR 890.5900. That category covers powered devices used with belts and harnesses to exert therapeutic pulling forces on the body.
What Injuries Can a Traction Table Cause?
Reported injuries range from a flare of an existing disc problem to muscle or ligament strain, nerve root irritation, and worsening radiating pain. Harness problems can cause skin injury, chest or abdominal pressure, or breathing difficulty. Patients can also fall getting on or off the table.
In vulnerable patients, such as those with fragile bones, fractures can occur. Rarely, the result is serious neurological harm, including lasting weakness, loss of bladder or bowel control, or other paralysis injuries.
Some patients have temporary soreness even when everything is done correctly.
When Is the Provider Responsible?
A claim against the treating provider focuses on whether they departed from the accepted standard for their profession and whether that departure caused harm.
In traction cases, that usually comes down to three things: how the patient was screened, how the treatment was chosen and set, and how the provider responded during and after the session.
New York’s licensing rules help define what’s expected. Education Law 6551 allows chiropractors to correct spinal problems by manual or mechanical means, which can include traction. It does not permit careless or contraindicated care.
Physical therapy under Education Law 6731 likewise includes mechanical treatment. An experienced physical therapist may treat without a referral for up to 10 visits or 30 days, whichever comes first.
After that, treatment generally requires a referral from a physician or another authorized provider. The State Education Department’s practice alert on directive referrals is especially relevant. It states that a physical therapist may not provide a directed treatment that is contraindicated or inconsistent with the patient’s diagnosis or condition.
In that situation, the therapist must contact the referring provider instead.
Many clinics have assistants set up the harness or run the machine. When that happens, the questions extend to the licensed provider responsible for the care. A clinic or practice can also be responsible for how it hires, trains, and supervises staff and maintains its equipment.
When the provider is a physician, New York generally requires a certificate of merit under CPLR 3012-a before a malpractice lawsuit is filed.
When Is the Manufacturer Responsible?
A separate claim may exist against the company that made, distributed, or sold the table if the device itself was defective. New York product liability law generally recognizes three kinds of defects:
Manufacturing defect. This particular table differed from its intended design. Examples include mis-calibrated force controls, a faulty motor or sensor, a defective emergency stop or harness, or a missing component.
Design defect. The design itself was unreasonably dangerous and a safer, feasible alternative existed. Examples include no meaningful force limit, an emergency stop the patient can’t reach, controls that allow excessive settings without safeguards, or no automatic shutoff when a sensor detects a problem.
Failure to warn. The manufacturer didn’t adequately explain contraindications, force limits, weight limits, screening, harness placement, monitoring, emergency procedures, or maintenance and calibration requirements.
For professional medical equipment, the manufacturer’s warnings are generally directed to the clinicians who operate the device rather than to the patient on the table.
A warning isn’t inadequate just because someone was hurt. The question is whether it reasonably communicated the risk and whether a better warning would likely have prevented the injury.
Responsibility can also fall on a company that serviced or repaired the table, or on the clinic itself for failing to inspect, calibrate, or replace worn parts. Design and manufacturing claims usually require engineering evidence, which is one reason the physical table needs to be preserved.
Can You Sue Both the Provider and the Manufacturer?
Yes. One session can involve several responsible parties. The table may have malfunctioned while the clinic failed to maintain it. The provider may have ignored a patient’s complaints while the manufacturer’s warnings were also inadequate.
The facility may have trained or supervised its staff poorly. A product claim doesn’t cancel a claim against the provider, and a provider’s carelessness doesn’t cancel a product claim. The evidence has to show each party’s role and how much it contributed to the harm.
What Evidence Matters in a Traction Table Case?
Evidence in these cases can disappear quickly, especially the machine itself and its settings. The most useful items include:
The table’s manufacturer, model, and serial number, plus its user manual and warning labels
Photos or video of the table, controls, and harnesses
Intake forms, consent forms, and any written description of “spinal decompression” you were given
Neurological exam findings, imaging, the diagnosis, and the provider’s reason for choosing traction
The settings for every session, including force, percentage of body weight, angle, duration, cycles, body position, and harness type
Notes about pain, numbness, weakness, dizziness, or breathing problems during treatment
Any error messages or data logs from the device
Maintenance, calibration, inspection, and repair records
Staff training records, and who chose the settings and operated the table
Names of everyone present during the session
Medical records and imaging from before and after, including emergency, surgical, and rehabilitation care
Records of missed work and out-of-pocket costs
It also helps to write down your own timeline while it’s fresh. Record the dates of each session and your symptoms before, during, and after.
Note what the provider said about risks or about continuing despite worsening pain, and whether you were left alone or able to stop the machine.
The table shouldn’t be altered, repaired, discarded, or returned to the manufacturer before its condition is documented.
If it’s still at the clinic, a lawyer can send a written request asking the clinic to preserve it along with its records. You can also report a device problem to the FDA through its MedWatch program, though a report doesn’t substitute for a legal claim.
Why Causation Is Often the Central Dispute
Most people who try spinal decompression already have back, neck, or disc problems. That gives the defense an obvious argument: the worsening reflects the underlying condition, not the treatment.
New York law allows recovery when negligence or a defect aggravates or speeds up a pre-existing condition. But the patient still has to show that the session caused the added harm, not the earlier condition alone.
Not improving, needing surgery later, or having a herniation show up on a new MRI doesn’t prove that on its own.
That’s why the timeline matters so much. The key questions start with what your symptoms were right before the session and what settings were used. Then come what you felt on the table, whether there was a sudden jolt, a sound, or an alarm, and how quickly new symptoms appeared.
Objective changes carry particular weight, such as measurable weakness, sensory loss, a change on imaging, or a need for emergency care or surgery.
Your own conduct may come up too. New York applies pure comparative negligence under CPLR 1411(a) to injury claims outside motor vehicle cases. If you’re found partly at fault, for example for not reporting pain during a session, your recovery is reduced by that share rather than barred.
How Long Do You Have to File a Claim in New York?
The deadline depends on who treated you and who you’re pursuing. It’s one of the most important reasons to get legal advice early.
Situation | Deadline | Law |
|---|---|---|
Physician, or a provider treating at a physician’s direction | 2 years and 6 months from the treatment, or from the last treatment when care for the same condition is continuous | |
Chiropractor, or a physical therapist treating without a physician’s direction | Generally 3 years | |
Manufacturer, seller, or service company for a defective or poorly maintained table | Generally 3 years from the injury | CPLR 214(5) |
Treatment at a city, county, or other public facility | Notice of claim within 90 days, and a lawsuit within 1 year and 90 days | GML 50-e and 50-i |
Injured child | The deadline is generally paused until the child turns 18, with limits for claims under CPLR 214-a | CPLR 208 |
A physical therapist or chiropractor treating on a physician’s referral may fall under the shorter 2 years and 6 months period. The safest approach is to act well before the shortest deadline that could apply. The clock generally starts with the session itself, not with a later diagnosis.
Complaints to regulators follow a separate track. Complaints about chiropractors and physical therapists go to the State Education Department’s Office of Professional Discipline at 1-800-442-8106.
Complaints about physicians go to the Office of Professional Medical Conduct at 1-800-663-6114. Both numbers are listed in the state’s patient rights guide.
A complaint can lead to professional discipline, but it doesn’t result in compensation and doesn’t pause any filing deadline.
Frequently Asked Questions About Traction Table Injuries
The table was “FDA cleared.” Does that mean I can’t sue the manufacturer?
No. Clearance through the FDA’s 510(k) process means the device was found substantially equivalent to one already on the market. It isn’t a finding that the device is safe in every situation, and it generally doesn’t block state injury claims. Whether a claim exists depends on evidence that this table was defectively made or designed, or came with inadequate warnings, and that the defect caused your injury.
What if I signed a consent form or waiver before treatment?
It doesn’t necessarily end a claim. A consent form shows you were told about some risks. It doesn’t permit care that falls below accepted standards, and it doesn’t excuse a provider who ignored warning signs or ran the machine improperly. A clinic’s waiver also doesn’t bind the manufacturer’s responsibility for a defective device. What the document says and how it was presented can matter, so keep a copy.
Should I keep going to sessions if my symptoms got worse?
Not until a qualified clinician has evaluated you. Temporary soreness can happen, but new weakness, spreading numbness, or any bladder or bowel change calls for prompt medical evaluation, not more traction. Tell the evaluating clinician exactly when the symptoms began and what happened on the table. That early record often becomes important evidence later.
What if the clinic won’t tell me the table’s make and model?
That information usually appears in your treatment records, on the machine’s label, or in the clinic’s billing and equipment records. If you took photos during treatment, check them. When a clinic won’t share the details, a lawyer can send a written preservation request and later obtain the information through the formal exchange of evidence in a lawsuit. Asking early matters, because equipment can be repaired, moved, or replaced.
If both the provider and the machine were at fault, who is responsible?
Both can be. You can generally pursue every responsible party in the same case, such as the clinic, the individual provider, a service company, and the manufacturer. The evidence then determines each party’s share. That’s why the investigation has to cover both the clinical care and the device itself, rather than assuming the injury came from one source.
Summing It Up
A traction table injury can support a claim against a provider, a clinic, a manufacturer, or several of them, but only when the evidence shows what went wrong and connects it to real harm. The cases usually turn on whether the patient was properly screened and watched, and whether the machine was set and run within its instructions.
If you were seriously hurt during spinal decompression or another traction treatment, Porter Law Group can review what happened and explain your options. Our firm has recovered more than $500 million for injured New Yorkers. You can see examples on our results page.
We handle injury and malpractice cases on a contingency basis, so you pay no attorney fee unless we recover compensation for you. Call 833-PORTER9, email info@porterlawteam.com, or contact us online to schedule a free consultation.
This article is for informational and educational purposes only. It is not a substitute for medical advice from a qualified healthcare provider or legal advice based on your specific circumstances.
Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.
