How Can Traction Help Lower Back Pain?
Lower back pain in the United States remains as one of the most common reasons to seek out medical attention and, along with neck pain, is associated with the highest overall healthcare costs.¹ There are many reasons why lower back pain manifests.
Popular and consistent injuries we see at Integrative Physical Therapy of NYC (IPT) involving low back pain include:
Lumbar Disc Herniations:
Pain from a lumbar disc that has moved out of place, bulged, or herniated.
Lumbar Radiculopathy:
Compressed lumbar nerve roots.
Non-specific Chronic Lower Back Pain:
Long-standing pain without reason.
Effective Treatment For Lower Back Pain
At Integrative Physical Therapy of NYC, our team of top physical therapists use our segmented traction tables to provide patients with back pain relief and assist in their rehabilitation.
What is traction and how can it help my lower back pain?
Traction provides a distractive force through the lumbar spine and relieves the lower back from compressive forces. Patients who experience the application of this distraction force show an immediate response after traction treatment.² Tadano, et al. found in a study of 95 participants with non-specific chronic lower back pain, 83.2% of the patients reported positive results when questioned about their pain post-traction treatment.³
As the lumbar spine is decompressed through traction, free space is created for anatomical parts of the lower back including facets (the lower back joints), lumbar discs, and nerve roots that exit the lower back and innervate the legs. Two important meta-analysis studies listed below⁴ found that mechanical traction provided patients suffering from disc herniations and/or lumbar radiculopathy with a significant reduction in pain and disability.
It is important to remember that traction provides short-term pain relief and is not a complete cure-all modality. Traction, in fact, works very well when used in conjunction with an individualized physical therapy treatment. At Integrative Physical Therapy of NYC, traction is one of the many tools we use to reduce pain in our patients with lower back pain and other pain conditions. With reduced symptoms, our patients are able to perform stretches and exercises recommended to them based on their individual evaluation.
Schedule a consultation with one of our physical therapists in our NYC office and come see if traction is warranted for your lower back pain, or explore other modalities. To request an appointment please call our office at (212) 953-6040 or contact us here.
George, S. Z., Fritz, J. M., Silfies, S. P., Schneider, M. J., Beneciuk, J. M., Lentz, T. A., Gilliam, J. R., Hendren, S., & Norman, K. S. (2021). Interventions for the Management of Acute and Chronic Low Back Pain: Revision 2021. The Journal of orthopaedic and sports physical therapy, 51(11), CPG1–CPG60.
Tadano, S., Tanabe, H., Arai, S., Fujino, K., Doi, T., & Akai, M. (2019). Lumbar mechanical traction: a biomechanical assessment of change at the lumbar spine. BMC musculoskeletal disorders, 20(1), 155.
Wang, W., Long, F., Wu, X., Li, S., & Lin, J. (2022). Clinical Efficacy of Mechanical Traction as Physical Therapy for Lumbar Disc Herniation: A Meta-Analysis. Computational and mathematical methods in medicine, 2022, 5670303.
Vanti, C., Panizzolo, A., Turone, L., Guccione, A. A., Violante, F. S., Pillastrini, P., & Bertozzi, L. (2021). Effectiveness of Mechanical Traction for Lumbar Radiculopathy: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Physical therapy, 101(3), pzaa231
