Lumbar spinal decompression with a pneumatic orthesis (Orthotrac): preliminary study

We present a preliminary study on the conservative treatment of chronic low back pain (LBP) using an easy to manage and extremely practical orthesis. It consists of a pneumatic custom made lumbar vest (Orthotrac), which permits both support-stabilisation and decompression. This system is versatile since the patient is not impeded and can perform any activity while wearing it.

The study included 41 patients (23 males and 18 females, aged between 19 and 25 years) with radicular pain due to degenerative discopathy including: dark disc, discal protrusion with neural foramina involvement, stenosis of the foramina, syndrome of the facets, Grade 1 listhesis. Patients had to wear the Orthotrac vest according to a precise protocol, 60 minutes 3 times a day for 5 weeks.

32 patients (78%) have showed a significant subjective and clinical improvement with subsequent better quality of life. All patients referred a decrease or disappearance of radicular pain. Outcome measures were evaluated according to SF-36 system which is used in clinical practice and research. As in any innovative therapy, selection of patients is extremely important. The pneumatic vest is not indicated in all patients, but it can play an important role in non-surgical therapy for LBP.

The system seems to give an effective spinal decompression and deserves a careful consideration when lumbar discal disease is treated conservatively. Further multicenter and interdisciplinary studies on a greater number of patients are obviously needed to confirm these preliminary results.