Can cervical traction hurt you if you don't really need it?

Question

I have been going to physical therapy for 5 weeks initially because of pain in my right shoulder and arm. I had little pain in my neck when I started however over the 5 weeks it has gotten worse. I have just recently been put in traction. While in traction my pain subsides but returns within hours of leaving the office. I now have more severe pain that requires more medication. I'm wondering if the traction didn't do more damage.

Answer 1

Anything that is causing more pain cannot be the treatment you need. talk this over with the physical therapist and if you don't like the answer consult a different physical therapist. Don't stay locked into one group search for different answers. Try a different orthopedic doctor.

Answer 2

PT not for joint problems? Well, I guess I'll stop seeing people for hip, knee, shoulder, spine and ankle rehab...gee, what's left?

Generally speaking, mechanical traction is never used more that about 20-25 pounds...this is not enough to do any permanent damange unless you had any prexsisting ligamentous damage (such as a congenitally lengthened alar ligament).

However, consider the following point: is the pain in your arm any less? If so, even though your neck may hurt more, if the pain is moving toward the center of the spine, this is generally a good prediction of recovery. This is documented by many researchers including: Donnellson/ Silva, Wernicke, and a variety of others. This is called the "centralization" phenomenon.

Billie makes a good point though, if you are not getting relief with the current regemine, seek out another approach...like medicine, there are many different physical therapy approaches to the same problem. My personal suggestion is to seek out a PT with MDT experience (mechanical diagnosis and therapy...aka "McKenzie" method). At the very least, an MDT provider will be able to tell you within 3-7 visits whether you can be helped with conservative care. You can ask your local therapy office or go to: http://www.mckenziemdt.org

Answer 3

No the traction would not be the cause of the increased symptoms that you are experiencing. Chances are you have a herniated (bulging) disc in your neck that is impinging on a nerve root and that disc is worsening by bulging more. The traction is meant to take the pressure off the disc to allow the bulge to go back in place. That is why you feel better with the traction. Unfortunately is seems like you are in a stage where conservative treatment is not helping your symptoms.

Answer 4

Heck yes the traction could be causeing the increased symptoms. They could be using too much force and over pulling the neck which puts too much strain on the ligaments and makes them stretch out and get too loose. This caused instability in the neck which is why it the pain comes back because the muscles will tighten up protecting the joints. It will keep on doing this every time. It sounds like you have a joint problem and PT is not for joint problems. Try chiropractic they are conservative joint specialists.