Traction has long been the treatment of choice for certain injuries to the lumbar, sacral and/or pelvic regions of the body. Traction involves applying a tensile or traction force to these areas to relieve a portion of the compressive load on the spine to alleviate pain and allow proper healing of the injuries. Traditionally, traction has been applied through stationary means, such as traction beds, that require the patient to remain immobile and unproductive for extended periods of time. There are several disadvantages to these traditional stationary traction devices. For example, during prolonged convalescence, the immobile patient is prone to atrophy of his non-injured musculature as well as to weight gain arising from his sudden immobility. Further, otherwise active people are especially susceptible to boredom that at best is merely bothersome and at worst can lead to clinical depression and/or the premature abandonment of the traction treatment. This, in turn, readily leads to reinjury and even longer convalescence.
While some advances have been made in the field of ambulatory traction devices, those currently known all suffer from the same drawbacks of being bulky, cumbersome, and limited in their ability to provide effective traction forces and attendant support. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,889,664 to Heuser et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 5,462,518 to Hatley et al.; and U.S. Pat. No. 6,280,405 to Brosleid each disclose ambulatory traction apparati featuring pairs of elongated structural members as part of the worn apparatus. These members extend to lengths of about a foot or more, rendering the traction apparatus heavy, bulky and cumbersome and unsuited for use while sitting or transitioning between sitting and standing. U.S. Pat. No. 2,835,247 to Stabholc; U.S. Pat. No. 3,548,817 to Mittasch; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,907,575 to Satterthwaite each disclose ambulatory traction devices having a pair of oppositely disposed traction force applicators connected to a waist-worn belt. While less bulky than the aforementioned prior art patents, these devices only provide bilaterally disposed traction to the patient and are insufficient for providing injury-specific traction. Further, these devices do not effectively limit or retard undesired movements such as twisting or bending.
There therefore remains a need for a traction device that is non-stationary or ambulatory and provides injury-specific traction while restricting unwanted and potentially injurious motions. The present invention addresses this need.
The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for providing traction to an ambulatory or non-stationary traction patient. One object of the present invention is to provide an improved traction applicator. Related objects and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the following description.