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Encyclopedia of Pain pp 2498–2499Cite as

Traction

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Synonyms

Intermittent; progressive adjustive; manual or continuous traction; Autotraction; Gravity-Assisted Traction; self traction; unloading

Definition

Traction is a treatment for spinal pain. It involves applying a pulling force to the lower limbs or to the head, in order to separate the vertebrae of the spine and / or to stretch the surrounding muscles and ligaments. The traction force may be delivered manually, or via weights, pulleys or mechanical devices as a continuous, sustained, intermittent or intermittent pulsed force.

Characteristics

Mechanism

No mechanism has been established whereby traction might relieve pain. Nevertheless, proponents of traction believe that it works, and have speculated on its mechanism of effect (Krause et al. 2000).

There is clear evidence that spinal traction does separate vertebral bodies. However, in the lumbar spine much of the separation observed arises from flattening of the lumbar lordosis (Twomey 1985). In the cervical spine, 30 pounds of...

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References

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  2. Beurskens AJ, de Vet HC, Koke AJ et al. (1997) Efficacy of traction for non-specific low back pain: 12-week and 6-month results of a randomized clinical trial. Spine 22:2756–2762

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  3. Bogduk N, McGuirk B (2006) Medical Management of Acute and Chronic Neck Pain. An Evidence-Based Approach. Elsevier, Amsterdam (in press)

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  4. British Association of Physical Medicine (1966) Pain in the neck and arm: a multicentre trial of the effects of physiotherapy. BMJ 1:253–258

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  9. Harte AA, Baxter GD, Gracey JH (2203) The efficacy of traction for back pain: a systematic review of randomized controlled trials. Arch Phys Med Rehabil 84:1542–1553

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Biomedical Sciences, University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, Australia

    Susan Mercer

Authors
  1. Susan Mercer
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Physiological Institute, University of Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany

    Robert F. Schmidt

  2. Department of Neuroscience and Cell Biology, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Texas, USA

    William D. Willis

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© 2007 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Mercer, S. (2007). Traction. In: Schmidt, R., Willis, W. (eds) Encyclopedia of Pain. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-29805-2_4541

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-29805-2_4541

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-540-43957-8

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