A comparison between multi-directional mechanical traction and longitudinal traction for treatment of lumbar disc herniation:a randomized clinical trial with parallel-group design / 中国康复医学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective: To evaluate the clinical effectiveness of multi-directional mechanical traction (MT) for the treatment of patients with lumbar disc herniation (LDH) compared with longitudinal traction (LT) as control. Method: This prospective, single-blind, randomized clinical trial was performed in Qi Lu Hospital, Shandong University from January 2008 to December 2008. One hundred and twenty outpatients with LDH were randomly divided into MT group or LT group. MT group was treated with computer-controlled multi-directional mechanical traction.LTgroupwastreatedwithlongitudinaltraction.RolandMorrisLowBackPainandDisability Questionnaire (RMDQ), visual analogue scale (VAS), and straight leg raising (SLR) angle were measured for every patient pre-, 4 weeks post-, and 1 year post-treatment.Result: The results of clinical observations showed significant improvements inRMDQ, VAS, and SLR angle assessments (all P＜0.05) in both groups 4 weeks post- and 1 year post-treatment compared with pre-treatment. Score of RMDQ in MT group was significantly lower than that in LT group(P＜0.05), however, there was no significant difference between two groups in VAS score and SLR angle (P＞0.05). The differences in improvement ratios between two groups were not significant (all P＞0.05). The clinical outcomes were negatively correlated with patient's age and disease duration.Conclusion: The effect of MT is equivalent and probably superior to that of LT in improving the symptoms and clinical findings of patients with LDH.