Abstract
Clinical approaches for Low Back Pain (LBP) with sciatica include Lumbar traction (LT), although there is no convincing evidence that LT is clinically effective, no sufficient evidence of inefficacy to discard this method was suggested, particularly in discopathies patients with sciatica. The present study focused to investigate the impact of Lumbar traction in LBP patients with sciatica. Strategies: Sixty patients aged 40-65 years suffering from LBP with sciatica, participated in this study. Patients were randomly assigned into experimental group (G1), receiving traditional physical therapy with LT, or control group (G2), receiving only traditional physical therapy. Traditional physical therapy consisted of local heat, ultrasound for the lumbar region, and exercise program, given for 3 sessions a week for four weeks. The results were collected using the pain visual analogue scale (VAS), Oswestry disability index (ODI), and soleus H-reflex and were documented at three occasions at baseline, at the end of the treatment, and 3 months following the end of treatment. Regarding to the normality of the data, a 2 x 3 split-plot ANOVA test utilized for statistical analysis. The significance level was set at a 95% confidence interval. All measured parameters were improved when patients used LT and/or traditional physiotherapy (p <0. 05). In line with the obtained data the pain VAS, ODI, and soleus H-reflex scores improved for both groups. This study confirmed that both treatment methods are effective, Lumbar traction is one of the most effective clinical techniques used.