Abstract
[Purpose] This study was conducted to clarify the difference in therapeutic effects between traction and decompression therapies, and their clinical therapeutic significance.
[Subjects and Methods] The subjects were 31 patients aged 35 to 50 years who had unilateral or bilateral lumbar and radicular leg pain. An intervention program was implemented in 31 patients with lumbar herniated intervertebral disks. For the experimental group, 15 subjects were randomly selected to receive decompression therapy and trunk stabilization exercise. For the control group, 16 subjects were randomly selected to receive traction therapy and trunk stabilization exercise.
[Results] Activities of the rectus abdominis, transverse abdominis, and external oblique muscles increased significantly in both groups. However, the activity of the erector spine muscle decreased, which was the only significant change in muscle activity among those of the other muscles in both groups. The disk herniation index in the experimental group decreased significantly in comparison with that in the control group, and the difference in the change in disk herniation index between the groups was significant.
[Conclusion] Decompression therapy was demonstrated to be more effective clinically than conventional traction therapy as an intervention method for disk disease.
From the study:
Spinal decompression therapy was performed by using a lumbar decompression device MAX-D (Medirex, Korea), and the subjects lay on a traction table in the supine position. Their knees were naturally positioned in a 90° angle on the knee support fixture installed in the device. The ankle was fixed with a hydraulic device according to the subject’s body type. Traction force and movement of the low extremity were supposed to be delivered through the fixed ankle. The upper extremity was fixed by using a trunk stabilization belt and an air pumping apparatus to maintain lumbar lordosis. A pelvic tilt of 15° was applied for patients with a lumbar herniated intervertebral disk at the L4 and L5 levels. The subjects were comfortably positioned in the device; then, their lower limbs were pulled within range so as not to make them feel uncomfortable during steps 1 to 5 of delivering traction force through the hydraulic device. The subject’s upper extremities were pulled within range so as not to make them feel uncomfortable during steps 1 to 5, using a trunk stabilization belt. First, the multi-mode of an automatic program of a decompression therapy device was used for steps 1 to 5. This multi-mode was programmed to make the lower part move in multiple directions. Traction force was started at one fourth of the subjects weight and increased by 2 kg at a steady rate daily. When pain occurred according to the increase in traction force, the traction force was lowered or maintained. The duration of the traction therapy was 30 min. The ratios of hold and rest times were 2:1 and 60:30 sec, respectively. The traction force for rest time was set to half of the traction force used in hold time. Both the traction and decompression therapy groups received their respective therapies once a day and five times a week for the first week and then once a day, four times a week (total 8 times) for the next 2 weeks.