The Effects of Spinal Mobilization with and without Manual Traction in Patients with Cervical Radiculopathy

Abstract

Objective: To determine the effectiveness of Spinal Mobilization with manual traction on pain and disability in patients with cervical Radiculopathy. Study Design: Randomized control trial (RCT). Place and Duration of Study: The study was conducted at Helping Hand for Relief Rehabilitation Centre Mingore Swat from 1st January to 30th June 2014. Materials and Methods: A total of 40 patients (23 males and 17 females) with mean age 35+8 were randomly selected and placed into two groups A and B. The inclusion criteria was patients with diagnosed cervical radiculopathy on physical examination were included. The Group A was treated with spinal mobilization with manual traction, while group B was treated with spinal mobilization alone for 6 weeks at 3 days per week. The Neck Disability Index (NDI) and Numeric Pain rating Scale (NPRS) were used to measure disability and radiating pain. SPSS version 21 was used for the analysis of data and paired t-test was applied at 95% level of significance to determine the statistical outcomes. Results: The results of both groups were significant but group of patients treated with the spinal mobilization and traction managed pain (from NPRS mean score 6.2 to 2.5) and disability (from NDI mean score 29.18 to 13.45) more than the group of patients treated with the spinal mobilization alone (Pain from NPRS mean score 6.1 to 3.15 and disability from NDI mean score 30.5 to 18.21). Statistically the group A showed more significant results (p= 0.001) than group B (p= 0.054). Conclusion: It is concluded that Spinal mobilization combined with manual traction is more effective than spinal mobilization alone for the management of radicular pain and disability in patients with cervical radiculopathy.

Keywords

• spinal mobilization, manual traction, cervical radiculopathy.