Effect of Intermittent Cervical Traction Combined with Burst Tens on Pain and Disabilities in Patient with Cervical Radiculopathy-A Case Study

Background Cervical Spondylitis is a degenerative condition of cervical spine. It occur early in person pursuing white collar job or prolong faulty posture to neck strain with radiating pain in the upper limb because of keeping the neck constantly in one position while reading and writing. The osteophytes impinging on the nerve root give rise to radicular pain in the upper limb. The cervical radiculopathy is a problem that result when a nerve in the neck is irritated as it leaves the spinal canal. This condition usually occurs when a nerve root is being pinched by a herniated disc or a bone spur. Cervical radiculopathy commonly called pinched nerve. Case Description A 36yr moderately built male have been diagnosed with cervical Radiculopathy. On evidence of clinical examination& radiological changes. The patient chief complaints include radiating pain in the arm with moderate tenderness over paravertebral muscle and restriction in neck& shoulder movement. The pain exaggerates during moving the head and shoulder. The patient has radiating pain from cervical region covering C4& C5 dermatomes. There is a loss of sensation on the same dermatomal distribution with muscle weakness. Material and methods In this case, the patient is treated with burst tens and intermittent cervical traction simultaneously for 15 min followed by conventional physiotherapy in the form of hot pack (15 min) and neck isometrics (5 repetitions) a day. The treatment was continued for 4 weeks. Daily assessment was done. The prognosis was assessed using 5 point ordinal scale visual analogue scale [vas], neck disability index and goniometry. Outcome The Patient was evaluated for the level of self reported pain before the commencement of the interventions and by the end of 2 weeks of intervention. The final result of the intervention was a successful outcome of being greater than 51.1 % of improvement on the Neck disability index, a pain rating of