The Sussex Back Pain Clinic has bought a cutting-edge scanning device from Switzerland called the Spinal Mouse.

It’s long been known that abnormal positioning (posture) and movements of individual joints of the spine can be the root cause of much of back pain suffered. Until now these movements could only be seen through using a complicated set of x-rays, both expensive and impractical in a clinic. With x-rays the patient is also exposed to a large dose of radiation with each analysis.

The Spinal Mouse is an innovative device to measure the shape and mobility of the spine. Measuring is fast, reliable and completely painless. By simply guiding the Mouse over your back, it records the position of each individual vertebra and using a special software programme, it displays this information as an on-screen 3D picture showing the shape and mobility of your back. You also see graphs which show comparisons with normal reference ranges ie where your spine should be and how it should move. We can immediately assess the condition of your spine, and you can see where your spine is not working as it should. Benefits are:

• It gives precise information on the position and motion of each bone in your spine
• Results are immediate so you can see straight away where your spine isn’t working correctly. The whole process only takes about five minutes
• It doesn’t use x-rays so there is no radiation and the process is totally pain-free and non-invasive
• We can accurately monitor your improvement by comparing further readings so you can see how treatment is helping you
• It can be used along with a standard examination to determine the health of your spine and preventatively by check-ups to potentially reduce the risk of back pain