Effects of manual continuous home cervical traction in cervical spondylosis

Background: Cervical spondylosis is the results of disc degeneration with associated osteophytosis. Cervical traction is widely used to treat neck disorders. Rehabilitation treatment like cervical traction along with other measures at home may play an important role to reduce symptoms of the patients with cervical spondylosis. Objective: A randomised clinical trial was conducted among 125 patients having cervical spondylosis to find out the effects of manual continuous home cervical traction. Methods: The patients were selected on the basis specific selection criteria. They were subdivided into two groups. In Group-A (manual continuous home cervical traction group), 61 patients were treated with exercise, cervical collar, neck support, manual continuous home cervical traction, NSAID, warm moist compression and instruction in posture. In Group-B (conventional treatment receiving group), 64 patients were treated with exercise, cervical collar, neck support, warm moist compression, NSAID and instruction in posture. Results: Among the subjects there were 68 (54.4 %) male and 57 (45.6 %) female. The mean age of the subjects was 45.94 ± 11.65 years. There was marked improvement of symptoms of the patients of Group-A in response to treatment for 6 weeks (p < 0.007). It indicates that manual home cervical traction was found effective to reduce the sign and symptoms of cervical spondylosis. There was improvement after treatment in Group-B also (p < 0.01). It indicates that conventional treatment was also found effective. In comparison, there was no significant difference between two groups (p < 0.36, 95% CI= ‐0.56 to 1.51) found after first week. But there was significant improvement in Group-A than Group-B after six weeks of treatment (p < 0.003, 95% CI= -2.40 to -0.51). Conclusion: It may be concluded that manual continuous home cervical traction is beneficial for the patients with cervical spondylosis. Bangladesh Med Res Counc Bull 2020; 46(2): 128-133