Cervical Vertebra Tractor: Current Status and Future Perspectives

Abstract

Background: According to "The World's Top Ten Chronic Diseases" published by the World Health Organization (WHO), Cervical Spondylosis, ranked second, has afflicted more youngsters and the number is still growing because of the popularity of smart devices and long-term office work. Surgical treatment is an invasive method with certain harm; in contrast, traction therapy, as a conservative treatment, can effectively relieve neck pain and oppressed nerves, which is widely accepted by doctors and patients. How to effectively guide and implement traction therapy has become a research hotspot in the field of cervical rehabilitation. Objective: To provide an overview of the existing cervical vertebra tractors and introduce their classification, characteristics, and development. Methods: This paper reviews the principles of traction therapy and various patents related to the cervical vertebra tractor. The structural characteristics, differentiations, and applications of existing cervical vertebra tractors are also introduced. Results: The existing cervical vertebra tractors are analyzed and compared, and the typical characteristics are concluded. The main problems in its development are analyzed, the development trend is foreseen, and the current and future research of the productions and patents on the cervical vertebra tractor are discussed. Conclusion: The cervical vertebra tractor is divided into a sitting and supine device according to the application of traction postural. The device can relieve the nerve, blood vessel, and spinal cord, relieve pain, and quickly relieve the symptoms of cervical spondylosis. However, the current treatment device exerts single axial traction, and the normal physiological curvature of the human cervical vertebra is similar to the shape of "C", which is not conducive to maintaining normal physiological curvature.