“Why am I not getting better with repeated traction or decompression therapy? I feel better but it doesn’t last.”

Some patients like yourself may experience the back pain returning despite going for repeated traction. That doesn’t mean that traction (decompression therapy) as an ineffective treatment and a waste of time.

Although traction helps in relieving your back pain , traction does not cure the underlying cause of back pain and thus, back pain comes back after a while. To banish back pain or at least significantly reduce it, it is best to work with your physiotherapist to find out the underlying cause of your back pain and eliminate it.

In the meantime, it is also a good idea to include other types of physiotherapy treatments into your plan to manage your  back pain more effectively and experience more lasting relief.

What Are The Causes of Back Pain?

Back pain can be a symptom to many underlying causes. It can be due to  excessive intradiscal pressure on the spine, herniated disc(s),  spinal fracture, cancer on the spine, severe osteoporosis, rheumatoid arthritis,  after-effects from post back surgeries and many others. It can be just a muscle strain,  muscle stiffness and tightness can be the result of poor posture, sports injuries, the nature of your lifestyle, and many others.

Managing Back Pain More Effectively

Traction should not be viewed as a cure for back pain. It should also not be seen as the only solution for effective, long lasting pain relief. Ideally, you should treat traction therapy as part of your overall plan to treat the affected area.

Other physiotherapy treatments such as EPA (Electrophysical Agents), manual therapy and exercises needs to be part of  your  treatment regime to treat your back pain effectively. EPA include treatments such as TENS, IFS, ultrasound as well as hot and cold therapy while manual therapy includes joint mobilization, joint manipulation, massages and myofascial therapy.

Your physiotherapist  may also prescribe resistance and rehabilitation exercises to you as part of the session to increase your  strength and flexibility so that your body is less likely to suffer from reoccurring injuries again.

Work with your physiotherapist and don’t be disheartened. We wish you all the best to a speedy recovery.