Traction Machines & Traction Tables

Cervical traction applies a distracting force to the neck, usually through a head halter supporting the chin and occiput. Lumbar traction applies force to the lower spine through a pelvic belt, with a thoracic belt anchoring the trunk. The machines are often the same; the belts, halters and force ranges differ.

If the surface under the patient does not release, part of the force set on the machine is spent dragging the patient across the table rather than reaching the segment being treated. A friction-free lumbar section is what makes the reading on the dial correspond to the force actually delivered.

It anchors the upper body so the pull separates the segments being treated instead of sliding the patient down the table. Without effective counter-anchoring the dial still reads the set force but the treatment does not do what the record says it did.

Belts are loaded and adjusted at every session and are the part of a traction setup that wears. The failure that matters is slipping under load, because it means the patient is not receiving the force shown on the machine. Departments running back-to-back traction usually hold a spare so a session is never lost to a belt out for laundering.