Reduction
The practice of tree topping or the indiscriminate removal of most of a tree's canopy is perhaps the most destructive thing one can do to a tree. If topping is the only "solution," one should consider total tree removal.
When a tree is topped, the diameter of the stems and main trunk eventually decay leaving a hollow from where a once sturdy tree survived. New adventitious sprouts form very quickly as the tree attempts desperately to produce food. The connections of these new sprouts will be very weak and subject to chronic failure.
Trees that have become too big or have over grown their location can be reduced in size by a method of pruning called crown reduction. With crown reduction, long limbs are shortened by making internodal cuts - cutting the tips of branches back to an interior fork. Shortening long limbs by as much as 6 to 8 feet at a time makes the tree more compact and will force more growth back to the interior of the tree.
This method is often used for trees than have been repeatedly stripped of interior foliage by unskilled tree companies. This method of weight reduction doesn't alter the appearance of the tree and serves to make it stronger. Many people with pecan trees find crown reduction pruning can limit or completely prevent major limb loss during heavy pecan producing years.