Back Up -- Yet Another Machine To Relieve Pain

A FRIEND WHO LEADS A RATHER hectic, stress-filled life recently tried out a new massage technique for her chronic back pain. She got some relief, temporarily. But we weren't sure if it was from the particular therapy or simply because she had to lie, quietly, on a massage table for 60 minutes.

This friend's nagging back puts her in plentiful company: There are the 2.5 million people in this country who are totally, permanently disabled by chronic back problems. The 30 million Americans who seek treatment for back pain each year. The $16 billion spent on medical treatments and disability payments. The up to $80 billion in resulting lost productivity.

The figure that's caught my eye, though, is a bit smaller: $1,695. That's the price tag these days on The BACKTECH 2000.

An Everett company, Back Technologies, introduced The Back Machine, as it was then called, in 1991. The device, originally sold for $895, was designed to help relieve back and neck pain. Two years later, some 10,000 have been sold. Through mail order.

That may say as much about back injuries as any of those other numbers. Many people are not getting much help for their aching backs. So they're willing to pay well for a machine that, most of the time, they haven't even tried.

Curtiss Marlowe, 27, of Seattle, bought one because of nagging back pain from sitting at a desk all day (he produces videos). It makes a difference, he says, using it just 10 minutes each morning.

Carolyn Johanson, 47, of Kirkland, had plateaued in her rehabilitation after a motorcycle accident. She got a Back Machine and started out using it three times a day. Now she's on it two or three times a week, and has 70 percent of her mobility back. "It's better than anything I can ever say about it," she says. And she wants a second one, for her summer cabin.

The machine has 21 neoprene rollers along a steel frame. You lie back on the rollers and, slightly arching the spine backward, pull with your arms or push with your legs to guide your body up and down the rollers. It's intended to massage, stretch, tone, strengthen, mobilize and relax the back, while offering mild traction and extension.

I borrowed a Back Machine and invited folks, especially ones with bad backs, to give it a try.

Almost everyone said going on it felt good. Those with more troublesome backs, however, weren't optimistic that it did enough to justify the expense.

"I'd just as soon get a back rub," said one. Certainly there's something about the human touch of massage.

"It doesn't take me back far enough," said the friend with the stress-filled life, who likes to hang over the edge of her bed to get a more extreme arch. (The new, adjustable BACKTECH 2000 might simulate that better.)

"I think I'd still have to see the chiropractor," said another tester.

A chiropractor (admittedly, a potential competitor) who took a look thought the device could provide some massage and relaxation. But he said people with truly ailing backs probably would need more strengthening exercises.

(By the way, for free information about back pain and descriptions of related exercises, call the National Exercise for Life Institute at 1-800-358-3636. Press 5 to hear recorded information, or 0 to leave a message requesting by mail the "Fit Facts" on low-back pain and exercises.)

I asked the chiropractor if a Ma Roller, a $30 wavy wooden massage aid, didn't do some of the same things as The Back Machine. Sure, he said, "And a rolled-up towel can help, too."

Of course, one of the cornerstones of the health industry is that many exercises can be done without machines - but if you have to keep stepping over a $1,695 item sitting in your living room, you may be more likely to actually use it. Once in a while, at least.

Perhaps the best feature of The BACKTECH 2000 is the 60-day, money-back guarantee (call 1-800-643-2225 for information). Potential customers can't try out the device in stores, which is probably just as well, since it's designed for consistent use.

The real trick would be to get benefits like one co-worker did.

"Oh boy," he said, "that makes me sigh and relax."

He was looking at a photograph of the thing.

Molly Martin is assistant editor of Pacific.