Traction for Low Back Pain

Traction for low back pain

Research has shown that tractioning your low back can be a safe and effective way to relieve low back pain, particularly if you have an intervertebral disc injury, either with or without sciatica. Traction is also useful for alleviating low back pain from other causes like stenosis and irritated spinal joints and muscles.

This article will cover some simple equipment-free exercises you can do at home to traction your back. 

What happens when you traction your low back?

When a traction force is applied to the low back, the spinal bones (vertebrae)  move apart slightly, as do the two small rows of spinal joints either side of the spine. This in turn leads to a widening of the small holes where nerves (spinal nerve roots) emerge from the spine. The overall reduced pressure on the structures in the lower back helps to  improve blood flow to the area and can  alleviate compression on both blood vessels and nerves. This can improve the delivery of nutrients and oxygen to the surrounding tissues, reducing inflammation and promoting healing in the low back tissues. 

How much force do you need to use?

Researchers used to think that a force equivalent to around 25 to 30 % of your bodyweight was needed to get a therapeutic effect from traction to the low back. However, a recent study showed that even very gentle traction is as beneficial as the stronger version. 

Is low back traction safe?

Traction is generally pretty safe, particularly when performed in an upright or horizontal position. However, any form of traction that involves being upside down for a prolonged period does have a few potential risks. For that reason, I prefer to avoid upside-down traction positions with my patents, and that includes the use of ‘inversion tables’. 

Low Back Traction Exercises

Just allowing yourself to hang by your arms from an overhead bar is a safe and  effective method of stretching out your lower back. Please note, whilst taking all your weight on your arms is great, you don’t need to have your feet completely off the floor to get some benefit from this exercise, even just taking a bit of your weight through your arms will generate some useful traction. If you see the photo below, you can see that it’s fine to have your feet in contact with the floor to control the exercise and keep it safe.

You don’t need to have your feet off the floor to benefit from hanging.

Doing this for a few seconds (the longer the better) will help to decompress the spaces where your nerves emerge from the spine.  It will also relieve the pressure on your intervertebral discs. You can repeat this twice a day, or as many times as you feel is helping.

This method is very safe and can help with sciatica-type symptoms and irritated spinal joints. The downside is that it only really suits people who have no problems with their shoulders and have a suitable place to dangle from. For those people that don’t have anywhere suitable at home, most parks have some kind of climbing frame that can be utilised. 

For people who have shoulder issues which stop them from hanging from a bar, this is an alternative method of getting some gentle traction through their backs. This video shows someone using the armrest of a sofa, but as long as you have enough cushioning under your tummy (like a pillow) then you can also try this over the back of a chair. The key is to play around with the position until it feels like your low back is getting a nice stretch. 

Low back traction exercise for people who can’t hang due to shoulder problems.

For those people who have someone who can help them, and they are not in too much pain, this is a safe and  gentle partner-assisted low back stretch which you can also try. 

Partner-assisted low back traction exercise.

Finally, and for ‘entertainment purposes only’, there is another quite extreme method of tractioning the low back. Using specially made ‘gravity boots’, you can hang yourself upside down from a suitable bar. Whilst being highly effective, this method is only really suitable for healthy and strong individuals who are able to safely install and detach themselves from the upside down position. I regularly use this method myself, and find it makes my back feel great, but it’s not for the faint-hearted! Of all the methods of self-traction, this is probably the most powerful, but also comes with the most risks.

As there are a number of medical conditions where it would be risky to perform this traction method, I do not recommend anybody try it without consulting with their healthcare provider first.

Like always, if you are unsure about how to perform any of these exercises , or you try them and they cause you pain or discomfort then please don’t do them.

If you are looking for an East Grinstead Osteopath please get in touch with:

Cliff Russell, Registered Osteopath

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