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Old 09-27-2013, 11:48 PM
chroma chroma is offline
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Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: Los Angeles, CA
Posts: 972
10 yr Member
chroma chroma is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Aug 2011
Location: Los Angeles, CA
Posts: 972
10 yr Member
Default My traction program

Something that has helped me a lot is traction at home. In my own words, the theory is that as your spine gets compressed over the years, it puts pressure on nerves which can result in pain (and the stress that goes with it) and/or muscle spasms which have subsequent effects on the body (more neurovascular compression). Traction stretches you out and increases the space between the vertebra, thereby decreasing the pressure on nerves.

I'm currently doing this about 5 days a week:

1) 6 mins of inversion board
2) 6 mins of straight neck traction
3) 6 mins of curved neck traction

The products I use are:

"Ironman IFT 1000 Infrared Therapy Inversion Table"
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003LR1DB4/

"ComforTrac Home Cervical Traction Device"
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000II85YC/

"Deluxe Full Spine Posture Pump - Model 4100 - POS107"
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00128B39G/

These are not cheap, but they are reusable and seemingly durable. Sometimes you can find these listed multiple times on Amazon at different prices, so before you purchase, do a search. You might also search other places to see if you can find them cheaper.

I do some chest & pec minor stretches after the traction. This combo has me feeling pretty good!

I highly recommend getting the far infrared on the inversion board. On days when you're cold, especially in fall and winter, it helps a lot.

Regarding doing two kinds of neck traction, I decided to go that route based on a reviewer's comments that she got the best results using both of those neck traction devices rather than just one or the other.

Btw there is a study by PTs that showed that neck traction had a positive effect on the treatment of TOS patients. This is what got me interested in neck traction.

If you decide to try this, start easy and build up over time, or you can hurt yourself. The inversion board has a control strap that lets you limit the angle. You could start at 30 degrees for example. And you can start with just 1 min each of these. I recommend a timer because you can start daydreaming or even fall asleep on these devices.

Also, you can do multiple times a day. At one point, I had built up to 3 X per day, but don't need that any more.

I'm not claiming this will cure TOS by itself, but it has definitely helped my TOS. Specifically I get fewer muscle spasms in my neck and around my t-spine. Whether or not it helps others will be a function of whether not spinal nerve pressure is a factor in their TOS. I don't know of a good way to determine that. I simply tried these things to try them and they made my "helps me" list.

Don't forget: If you try this, start slow and build up over time.

If you have questions, feel free.
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"Thanks for this!" says:
MarcS (11-13-2013)