EFFECTIVENESS OF MANUAL TRACTION AND OTHER PHYSIOTHERAPY TREATMENT IN THE MANAGEMENT OF PAINFUL CERVICAL RADICULOPATHY

Abstract

Background: Cervical radiculopathy, generally entitle as pinching of the nerves which causes severe shooting pain which mostly pass through the shoulder. Along with it causes muscle weakness and numbness into the arm and hand. In majority of the cases, cervical radiculopathy responds well to conservative mode of treatments which incorporate physical therapy with medical management. The aim of this study is to uncover the effective and evidence based conservative treatment of cervical radiculopathy. Method: Randomized controlled trial study conducted from January 2014 to December 2014. Participants were recruited from physiotherapy OPDs of tertiary care hospitals. A total number of, 100 subjects with a ratio of 50 men and 50 women were recruited between the ages of 25 and 55 years with unilateral cervical radiculopathy. Control group received combination of conventional AROM exercises and modalities including TENS and superficial thermotherapy as a treatment while experimental group received manual cervical traction and combination of conventional AROM exercises, modalities including TENS and superficial thermotherapy. For both groups, treatment was designed for two weeks (6 sessions/ week). Improvement in symptoms was assessed by evaluation of both groups on the basis of visual analogue scale (VAS). Results: After 2 weeks of treatment, patients with neck pain showed marked decreased in pain as compared with the control group (P<.001).For pre and post level a paired sample t-test was used and the results with p-value less than 0.05 were considered as significant. Mean difference of 0.94 (VAS) with a significant p-value (P<0.01) was obtained shows the respective improvements in the numeric pain scale scores. Conclusion: Manual cervical traction when used with conventional AROM exercises and modalities were effective methods for decreasing pain in cervical radiculopathy. Recent literature supports such protocols involving multiple interventions. Results of this study also supported the treatment options in cervical radiculopathy in a multimodal approach.

Keywords

• Cervical Radiculopathy
• Manual Cervical Traction
• Multimodal Approach
• Pain