Many physical therapy clinics don’t understand the significant potential of using traction for back and neck disc injuries. In the past, there was some short- sighted research conducted that failed to explore more thorough ways of usage, which caused most physical therapy clinics to underestimate its potential and to stop using it as a treatment option. Unfortunately, university physical therapy teaching programs seem to teach from this research and fail to see the value of it for certain patients. If used at the right time with the right patient’s pathology, it can often save patients from unnecessary surgery. Today, I’m going to focus on two cases where lumbar traction was key in the helping the patients.

 I don’t know how many of our Hickory Rd patients know that we have an additional site on Notre Dames’ campus. Fourteen years ago, Notre Dame invited McDonald Physical Therapy into St. Liam’s Hall (As an alumnus, we knew the building as the Infirmary.) They had just updated this building and wanted it to have every kind of health service for the students and wanted quality care. As a result, we moved on campus to treat the students and have had a great relationship with the university and their students ever since.

One of our Notre Dame physical therapists recently told me about how thankful they were to be able to help a particular patient overcome a serious injury. This patient was a 19-year-old student having difficulty walking.  He was informed by his physician, after having had an MRI, that he had a lumbar disc pressing on his nerve. He was unable to walk without a limp or stand for any length of time without terrible pain in his leg. He was confused that he had little to no back pain. After a complete exam by our therapist and a simple explanation explaining why he seemed to have leg pain and possible weakness, he had a better understanding of his problem.

Luckily for this young man, this was one of those cases. McDonald Physical Therapy, unlike most or all physical therapy clinics, will use daily traction to help patients slotted for back surgery. The challenge for the patient and the physical therapist is that the patient will be treated daily for up to two weeks. This means the physical therapist and patient are treating

throughout Saturday and Sunday. This, as you might think, is quite unusual for any medical practitioner. The patient, who is in serious pain and very worried about the outcome of back surgery, usually has no difficulty committing to this daily treatment.

Thankfully, in this case, as in many of our serious lumbar and cervical disc cases, this patient was relieved of his pain and regained the strength in his leg. This patient is back to working out and getting stronger every day.

In another case back in our Hickory clinic, a 46-year-old patient came into our clinic complaining of upper trapezius pain that radiated down part of his right arm. He had had the pain for 2 months, and it was now constant and affecting his sleep. The patient thought the pain was coming from his shoulder. As a result, he came to us from his physician as a shoulder patient.

After we evaluated this patient, we determined that the pain was coming from his neck. We spoke to his physician who agreed he thought this might be the case. Surprisingly, we began treating him on a Wednesday. We saw him for traction, manual cervical treatments and exercise. His treatment was daily for 3 days and 2 of those days were Saturday and Sunday. (Technically, we are closed on those days.) By the fourth day, he had no arm pain, and his upper Trapezius pain had diminished from an 8 out of 10 to a 3 out of 20.

As we stated above, traction, when used for the right reason, is a very successful form of treatment. This patient was in and out of our clinic in a 2-week period without any remaining symptoms. He has stayed pain free for 3 years as of now.

We at MPT, are very committed to our patients, which may require stepping outside the box and treating daily and/or on weekends sometimes, when necessary. To us, it is worth the results. Our patients are truly like family. Our goal is to respond to them as we would if one our closest family members had that pain or pathology. This is why MPT physical therapists can be more engaged in their patient care.  

We take your healing very personally! Please continue to take control of your care. You must be your own advocate! Enjoy the upcoming warmer weather and please take more control of your medical care.

Enjoy,

"Two thousand steps seemed to be the magic number," TIME reported ("How Many Steps Does It Take to Avoid a Heart Attack? Researchers Find Out" – Dec. 19, 2013). "Even before the study began, for every 2,000 steps a day one participant tended to walk on average compared with another, they enjoyed a 10% lower rate of heart problems by the end of the year."

If you have trouble walking 2,000 or more steps per day, a physical therapist can help. They can help you overcome barriers to physical activity and address any movement problems so you can get moving and achieve the many health benefits of physical activity.