Efficacy of Mechanical Traction and Upper Limb Tension Test in Patients with Cervical Radiculopathy

Cervical radiculopathy is a common neuromusculoskeletal disorder causing pain and disability. Pain perceived as arising in the arm caused by the irritation of cervical spinal nerves or its roots is considered as radicular pain and termed as radiculopathy, and 1 out of 1000 individuals suffer from cervical radiculopathy. Cervical disk herniation and osteophyte are the main causes of cervical radiculopathy. Cervical disk herniation usually causes the inflammation compressing the nerve root which may result in radicular symptoms in the ipsilateral extremity. Symptoms may vary according to the affected nerve root, sensory, motor, and autonomic branches of the peripheral nerve. Patients with cervical radiculopathy mostly seek treatment for neck pain, numbness, tingling sensation, reduced grip strength, and overall weakness on the upper extremity muscles. In the advanced disease, cervical muscles, which particularly contribute to the mechanical stability of the cervical region at a rate of 80% is affected. Cervical radiculopathy (CR) is an important subgroup of neck disorders. Although less prevalent than mechanical neck pain, CR leads to more severe pain and disability. Recently, neck stabilization exercises have gained popularity among therapeutic exercises, although studies frequently included patients with mechanical neck pain Cervical traction combined with exercise therapy has the additional effects in reducing pain, and function, while managing neck pain conservatively. There are studies which shows that the combined effect of intermittent mechanical traction and neural mobilization are effective in cervical radiculopathy. But there is no study which evaluate the effectiveness of intermittent cervical traction over ULTT (upper limb traction tests). Hence, the purpose of our study is to determine the efficacy of mechanical traction and ULTT on Pain, ROM, Disability.