Authors: Sailors, Matthew E.; Breit, Pamela K.; Shattuck, Amy L.; Uttecht, Michael J.

Source: Journal of Manual & Manipulative Therapy, Volume 5, Number 1, 1997 , pp. 27-32(6)

Publisher: Maney Publishing

Abstract:

The purpose of this study was to determine if experienced physical therapists could consistently apply submaximal cervical manual traction force over repeated trials. Subjects were 21 physical therapists with a x age = 35.0 +/−6.7 years; x height = 174.5 +/− 8.4 cm; x weight = 74.8 +/− 13.9kg. Subjects had a x of 11.1 +/− 7.7 years of experience. A mannequin head was attached via a 0.635 cm steel cable to a tension dynamometer which records the maximum force applied. Each subject applied an initial traction force in the range of 4.5 – 13.5 kg (10–30 lbs). This was held for ten seconds and then the subject relaxed. The dynamometer was reset at zero and the subject attempted to reapply that initial level of traction force. This was repeated for three trials. Data were analyzed with a Pearson product moment correlation (r) followed by a coefficient of determination (r ²) for reliability. Results for each of the three trials were r = 0.910 for trial one; 0.952 for trial two; and 0.967 for trial three. These resulted in r ² = 0.828, 0.906, and 0.935, respectively. This indicated excellent reliability. The authors conclude that experienced physical therapists are reliable in applying submaximal manual cervical traction forces over repeated trials. Further research needs to investigate the clinical efficacy of cervical manual traction.

Keywords: Cervical Traction; Manual Therapy; Reliability

Document Type: Research Article

Publication date: 1997-01-01

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