A traction chair is a padded recliner programmed to stretch your spine gently and then let go, over and over, while you lie back. It eases pressure and loosens muscles that have stayed tight since the injury.
You get this treatment only if your physician orders it, and your physician also sets how strong it is.
What is traction chair?
You recline in a padded chair while a program slowly stretches your spine, then lets it rest, over and over.
How does it help after a crash or fall?
Gentle, repeated pulls ease the load on your spine and give muscles that have braced since the injury a chance to unclench.
What does it feel like?
You feel your back slowly lengthen, then ease off. Strength starts at level one and rises a single step at a time, never past your physician’s order. Your technician checks on you two minutes in, then again midway.
Who should not have it?
- A fracture your physician has not cleared
- Osteoporosis
- Rheumatoid arthritis in the neck
- Numbness or weakness that is getting worse
- Pregnancy
- Spine surgery in the recent past
Each session opens with your technician reading the safety questions aloud to you. A changed answer sends the decision to a physician before the machine is turned on. Saying stop ends the treatment, any time.
How long does it take?
About 15 minutes.
What to remember
- It starts at the lowest level and climbs slowly.
- A stretch is fine; pain is not.
- Report new numbness or tingling right away.
Show us you have it: Say out loud what you would tell us if the pull began to hurt. If any part is unclear, ask us to go over it again; there is no limit on that.
Traction is one of the ways we treat a herniated disc without surgery. How you sit between visits matters too; see how to sit with a slipped disc.
Other treatments in the program
- Heat and cold therapy
- Vibration therapy
- Neck decompression
- Laser therapy
- Shockwave therapy
- TENS (gentle electrical stimulation)
This page belongs to the Gateway Midwest physician-directed physiotherapy program. On Natural Bridge Road, the physician who examined you signs each order, and no treatment runs without a physician on site.
Hurt in an accident? Start here.
You do not need a lawyer, a police report or a referral to be seen. Bring your symptoms and we will work out the rest.
Monday–Friday, 8:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. Same-day appointments are often available for new accident and injury patients.