To evaluate the short-term efficacy of a novel traction therapy bed for patients with lumbar disc herniation.

A single-arm prospective design was used. Patients with LDH attending the spine surgery outpatient department of our hospital from May 2023 to May 2024 were enrolled and all received standardized intervention with the novel traction therapy bed. The Oswestry Disability Index (ODI), Japanese Orthopaedic Association (JOA) score, and Visual Analog Scale (VAS) score were assessed before treatment, immediately after treatment, and 3 months after treatment. Lumbar MRI was performed for imaging evaluation according to Pfirrmann grade. The primary outcome was the ODI at 3 months post-intervention. All measurement data were analyzed using paired t-tests or Wilcoxon signed-rank tests for non-normal data, and Generalized Estimating Equations (GEE).

A total of 30 LDH patients were included in this study, including 14 males (46,67%) and 16 females (53.33%), with an average age of 46.13±16.38 years. Compared with pre-intervention, ODI and VAS decreased significantly immediately after intervention, while JOA increased significantly (all P<0.001). At the 3-month follow-up, the improvements in ODI and VAS were maintained, and JOA tended to stabilize, the improvement rate of treatment reached 90.00%. GEE results indicated that the time factor had a significant effect on ODI, JOA, and VAS (all P<0.001), and pairwise comparison results were consistent with the above findings.

The novel traction therapy bed can significantly alleviate pain, improve neurological and motor function in LDH patients in the short term, demonstrating certain clinical application value.