Background: Cervical radiculopathy is a common clinical diagnosis classified as a disorder of nerve root and is a pathologic process which has been defined as pain in the distribution of a specific cervical nerve root (Rai et al, 2013). A multitude of physical therapy intervention has been proposed in the management of cervical radiculopathy, including mechanical cervical traction, manipulation, therapeutic exercises and modalities in which some says is effective and some say not effective. Therefore the aim of the study is to find out the effectiveness of cervical traction along with conventional therapy in the management of cervical radiculopathy.
Methods: 30 Patients were assigned randomly into two groups, each group consisting of 15 Patients. Group A received TENS and cervical neck exercises. Group B received TENS, cervical neck exercises and intermittent cervical traction. Assessment was done on Day0and follow up at 2nd and 4th week by using Neck disability index (NDI) and Numeric Pain Rating Scale (NPRS)
Results:At 2nd week, evaluation showed that there is significance difference (P < 0.05) between the two groups for all the variables measured. At 4th week evaluation of both groups showed a very high significance (P< 0.05) within the group for all the outcome measurements.Comparison of measured variables between the groups showed that the Group B demonstrated a statistically significant (P< 0.05) reduction in NPRS and NDI.
Conclusion: It is concluded that even though TENS and neck exercise are effective, the addition of intermittent cervical traction with TENS and exercise is even more effective in the management of cervical radiculopathy.
