The role of gravity traction in physiotherapy: A systematic literature review

Abstract

Since low back pain (LBP) has been studied to be one of the most common health problems in the word, and traction, has been studied to be one treatment method for managing the low back pain. Physiotherapy field is using different methods in treating pain and low back pain, and recent studies have shown effects on traction to be inefficient and not reliable for treating pain in general, but still, the patient evaluation and proper screening needs to be made to achieve results. Gravity traction is a one method to consider, but the studies and materials related to pain effects are hard to find or controversial. A systematic literature review aim is to find reliable and evidence-based data about the role of gravity traction and the effects on pain, which tells the need for the study. Furthermore, by screening through studies and articles, the outcome has been surprising, which characterizes the need for re-studies. Most of the cases, gravity traction needs a device to perform the traction itself, so commercialized businesses has taken advantage from that. Recent open access studies and articles are hard to find and reliability suffers massively. In conclusion, the role of gravity traction in physiotherapy, is still a big mystery. Suggestion of more open access studies need to be done and the study behind the method of “Gravity traction” needs to be updated.