Medical professionals often first recommend a conservative course of treatment for headaches and neck pain that includes cervical traction, or decompression, to help reduce pressure on the nerve root. Bodyline’s Neck-Decompressor®, a light-weight device that fits comfortably around your neck, is the product many chiropractors swear by. It features three soft, fabric-covered bellows that you inflate to achieve the desired traction strength.
But what should you do if no air can flow through the air hose that inflates/deflates the bellows?
There is a simple fix that, in most cases, quickly restores airflow through the hose.
In the photo above, notice the small, round protrusion in the hose that is found about two inches from the bulb you squeeze to inflate the bellows.
Another small protrusion is also found on one of the three smaller hoses that connect to the bellows (see photo below).
Check each protrusion to ensure that the ball-bearing it contains has not slipped out of the protrusion and into the air hose, where it will block the flow of air into or out of the bellows.
If you find that the ball-bearing is no longer positioned inside the protrusion and airflow is blocked, you can restore proper airflow by pinching the hose so that the ball-bearing moves back into the rounded protrusion. Once the ball-bearings are correctly repositioned inside the protrusions, you will be able to inflate or deflate the bellows to your preferred degree of support.
So why have a ball-bearing there at all?
The ball-bearing is provided to slip into the hose to restrict airflow once a comfortable level of inflation is established, thus preventing air from escaping from the bellows and ensuring a consistent degree of decompression over a period of several uses.