Traction & Decompression

Cervical radiculopathy is a common pathology treated in a variety of out patient settings. Treatment can involve specific strengthening, manual therapy, nerve glides, and often different forms of traction to help reduce complaints. Knowing which nerve root(s) are primarily involved helps direct the most appropriate interventions. In this webinar, Paul Marquis, PT discusses how incorporating the Saunders Cervical unit can help with clarifying the involved nerve root as well as his best practice advice regarding home program design when clinical traction techniques have proven success.

Specific topics covered in this webinar include:

• Discussing an assessment technique Paul created for clarifying nerve root level and treating patients with cervical radiculopathy.
• How the Saunders Traction unit can be used for assessment with his technique.
• Paul's recommendations on treatment frequency and settings for use of home traction unit.
• How Paul's assessment tool can be used in conjunction with currently accepted cluster of cervical radiculopathy tests.

What You'll Learn:

• How mechanical traction relieves pressure on irritated nerve roots, helping improve symptoms in patients with sciatica and other radiculopathies.
• How the precision of mechanical traction systems—like Chattanooga® DTS traction tables—enables individualized treatment plans that outperform manual methods in both reproducibility and patient throughput.
• How to dial in the right tension, duration, and angle of pull using the "start low, go slow" approach—balancing patient comfort with optimal therapeutic effect.
• How clinicians triage acute flare-ups versus chronic cases, using traction alongside tools like Class IV laser, NMES, and manual therapy to improve outcomes.
• Practical tips on supine vs. prone setups, cervical vs. lumbar targeting, and how to fine-tune protocols based on symptoms, sleep positions, and mechanical responses.
• How mechanical traction boosts clinic efficiency, ensures consistent care across providers, and builds patient trust through clear, repeatable treatment pathways.

This is a must-watch on-demand webinar for clinicians looking to sharpen their traction skills and elevate care quality for patients with spinal dysfunctions.

Wayne Starin, DC is a paid consultant of Enovis™. The opinions and experiences presented here are for informational purposes only.