الفهرس | Only 14 pages are availabe for public view |
Abstract Introduction: Lumbar disc prolapse is a common cause of referral for therapy and lumbar traction is one of the most important therapeutic modalities of such cases. Purpose: was to compare between the effect of supine and prone intermittent lumbar traction on back pain severity, leg pain severity, functional disability, strength of ankle dorsiflexors, strength of ankle plantar flexor, extent of the disc prolapse beyond normal anatomical position and the vertical dimension of the intervertebral disc space in patients diagnosed as lumbar disc prolapse with one level disc prolapse L4/ L5 or L5 /S1, or double level L4/L5, L5/S1, with unilateral radiculopathy. Methodology: 40 patients were assigned into 2 experimental groups, group I using intermittent supine traction and group II using intermittent prone traction; then visual analogue scale (VAS) was used to assess the severity of low back pain and leg pain. Oswestry disability questionnaire (ODQ) was used in the assessment of functional disability. The manual muscle test was used to evaluate the strength of ankle dorsiflexors and plantar flexors muscles. Furthermore, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was used to evaluate the morphological changes of the prolapsed intervertebral disc. Results: The results of this study showed that both types of traction significantly reduced back and leg pain severity, improved functional disability, increased the strength of ankle doriflexors and plantar flexors, reduced the extent of disc prolapse and increased the vertical dimension of the intervertebral disc space with no significant difference between both types of treatment |