A 38-year-old member asked:
What is lumbar traction?
3 doctor answers • 4 doctors weighed in

Dr. Byron Law-Yoneanswered
Psychiatry 56 years experience
A type of treatment: Treatment for back problems where there is traction on your spine to "open up" the spaces between you vertebra and loosen the pressure on trapped nerves and restore disc integrity.
5.7k viewsReviewed >2 years ago

Dr. Justin Esterberganswered
Orthopedic Spine Surgery 25 years experience
Pull: Literally means pulling on your spine in a way to temporarily lengthen your spine. There are several tables/ machines that do this, inversion tables allow gravity to do the work of pulling. Many people with low back or nerve pain related to back conditions find traction helpful at least temporarily.
5.2k viewsAnswered >2 years ago

Dr. Robert Massonanswered
Neurosurgery 34 years experience
Expands foramen: When a disc collapses the roof and the floor of the the space the nerve travels through collapses. Traction is a treatment that pulls the roof and floor apart, expanding and unpinching the nerve, it is temporary, but sometimes helps the nerve inflammation and irritability improve.
4.7k viewsAnswered >2 years ago
Similar questions
A 44-year-old member asked:
What does a lumbar traction table do?
1 doctor answer • 2 doctors weighed in

Dr. Byron Law-Yoneanswered
Psychiatry 56 years experience
Apply traction: It is meant to apply traction on the spine in order to treat disorders of the back.
5.7k viewsReviewed >2 years ago
Last updated Mar 27, 2014
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