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Member
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Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: Paradise
Posts: 855
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Member
Join Date: Jan 2009
Location: Paradise
Posts: 855
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Dr. Smith
Opinions on that vary, and that's ok. We did a lot of research before getting one (and were willing to go the $400 for the bench model) and the opinions were split exactly 50-50. Even our orthopedic surgeon prefers (and has) a door unit.
I don't understand what you mean by " 15# just to unweight your head"; would you mind elucidating? I've never even used the water bag; I didn't trust it not to leak, and it seemed too.... imprecise, so I just tied a hook onto the cord and hang known free weights. 
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Sure, perhaps I spoke too strongly. Over the door units are not garbage per se, rather they are just low tech entry level units that an insurance company is more likely to spring a buck for. So when they only reimburse say $20 for a home unit to the provider, who is on panel, you can't dispense the $35 unit!
And besides, I got tired of people bringing back the door units saying either they were too uncomfortable or awkward to use. In terms of usability, we used to dispense essentially the same unit but it was designed for the person to lay down on their back. This is where there is a difference. The head weighs 10-12 pounds, add a little soft tissue tension and now you are up to 15 pounds of traction "force" before you start to unweight the head in the sitting position. If you are already lying down, you have removed the gravity's effect and 15 pounds of traction is now 15 pounds (almost) of traction working on the spine instead of just unweighting the head to zero pounds (sitting). Your spine doesn't care how the 15 pounds of traction force gets applied, it is just that you have to add an addition 15 pounds to your traction force when sitting as compared to laying down, for the same effect. This becomes important when a lot of the patients find 20-30 pounds on the chin and jaw uncomfortable after 15 minutes of use (TMJ problems, dentures etc.)! And then there is the whole head halter mess that is a game changer for some. With the supine (laying face up) units, you can use a cradle-type of halter that is so much more comfortable, which drastically increases compliance. The Saunders units also eliminate the halter problem.
In terms of the water bag vs. hanging weights on end of the rope, doesn't matter. In fact, in older days (pre-water bag) the home units came with a bag to place weights into.
In terms of the orthos, the one I used to work with (and dear friend) for 23 years (God love 'em) hadn't a clue on the different units other than writing a script for a home traction unit. Your PT or equivelant therapist would know so much more about the differences in the various types of units.
I don't mean to bag the door units especially when they work well for you and your are happy, but after dispencing and setting up hundreds if not thousands of them over more than two decades and comparing ease of use with patient compliance, I have had an opportunity to generally see what worked for the masses (not necessarily the individual)!
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