The effect of manual traction on the length of cervical spine in asymptomatic individuals: a randomized controlled study

Abstract

THE Objectives of the study were to measure the length of the cervical spine when submitted to manual traction and to verify changes in the cervical spine after 10 consecutive sessions. In this randomized controlled study 64 participants were submitted to two radiological procedures: one before and another during traction. The distances between the anterior and posterior vertebrae edges of C2 the C7 were measured and compared. In the first stage it was shown that measures of the anterior distance was 8.40 to 8.50 cm (P<0.001) and the posterior was 8.35 to 8.50 cm (P<0.001). For the second stage, subjects were randomized in control group (n=31) and intervention group (n=33) which received ten sessions of cervical traction. After the sessions the anterior and posterior distances of the intervention group increased significantly from 8.40 to 8.90 cm (P<0.001) and 8.40 to 8.65 cm (P<0.001) respectively. After the sessions all participants repeated the same radiological procedures, measurements and comparisons of the vertebral distance. When the groups were compared after the sessions there were statistically significant differences between the anterior and posterior distance of 8.20 and 8.90 cm (P=0.015) and 8.30 and 8.65 (P=0.030) respectively. Therefore the traction increased the length of the cervical spine and after a period of application of this intervention there was significant increase of the measures between the vertebral distances.