CERVICAL TRACTION DOES IT WORK ? Vertigo and tinnitus symptoms with prolapsed disc

[d clark]

Hi can anyone help with cervical traction. I have a disc prolapse at c6/7 level and I am possibly having an endoscopic operation with the Alpha Klinic in Munich. My arm pain has decreased a lot and I am left with serious vertigo. Has anyone had traction on the neck and will it help with the vertigo ? Can it sometimes move the disc and make more pain ? As this is why I have not tried it sooner. Also the disc has been out for nearly a year, would it be silly to do traction now as the disc is harder material. Also are home traction devices worth a try ? Has anyone had the vertigo and after the operation has it cleared up ? Is there anything else worth trying also ? Thanks

[Terry]

Denise:

Are you sure the cervical problems are causing vertigo?

I have a lot of cervical damage and never experienced that. Have you had your inner ear checked out for fluid imbalances?

As for the traction they do make home devices. I used one for a long time when I first ruptured my first cervical disc years ago. It is a weight, pulley, and harness system that involves putting water in a bag and the weight of the bag stretches your neck in the harness contraption. The doctor prescribes the amount of water to put in the bag for weight. I would sit in the chair for a half an hour at a time for traction and read a book. It was not unpleasant at all. I am not sure of what good it did. I still progressed to rupture another disc, have a hemi-laminectomy, and now 2 ADR's in the cervical area.

Anything is worth a try in a conservative sense before surgery is ever considered.

Hang in there. Pardon the pun.

Terry Newton

[sahuaro]

I have a 5/6 prolapse and 6/7 bulge and have been doing traction for about 6 years now. The only time I experienced vertigo was for about a week after each of my ESI's; I had thought it was a reaction to the cortisone but your experience raises the question of whether there was some nerve irritation after the injections.
Concerning traction: I did not start having traction until many months after my MVA and cervical problems were diagnosed. I definitely think that the traction combined with exercises to stretch and relax neck muscles has helped me function all these years, but, like Terry, I am still facing surgery. I think there is a danger of traction causing more damage and that is why traction should be prescribed by your physician and/or a physical therapist who will also determine the amount of pressure, duration and frequency, i.e., this is not something you should self-prescribe. I have traction once a week at the physical therapist's office and then
use the Saunders Cervical Hometrac device twice a week at home. This device is closer to the physical therapist's device in that I lie prone and the device pulls my neck back. As my physical therapist describes it, the over-the-door device is caveman vintage and the prone device is medieval...but, as I said, I think it has helped me a great deal.