Is Spinal Traction a good treatment for neck and back pain?

Many people in Hong Kong are suffering from neck and low back pain.  Usually, the most common treatment rendered by your physiotherapists is spinal traction.  A spinal traction is a machine that pulls your spine in opposite direction to allow the relieve of the spinal nerves.  Depending on the location of the pain, a weight will be added gradually to the allow the body to stretch and alleviate the pain.  A patient will be put on a traction treatment three times a week for a series of 4 weeks or until the pain is relieved.

According to the American Medical Association, there is currently no evidence that spinal traction can treat neck and low back pain or disc herniation.  However, it has shown that the pulling and stretching of the spine could damage the surrounding tissues, muscles and ligaments creating a decreased spinal curvature.  A decreased curvation may lead to early degeneration of the spine.

A famous American Chiropractor, Dr. C.S. Gonstead explained that when a spine loses its regular curvature, it will increase its chance to become misaligned or “subluxated”.  A subluxated spine will cause impingement of the spinal nerves leading to pain and obstruction of the nervous system.  Anything treatment that will affect the spinal curvature such as the spinal traction should be avoided.