Question about Traction

[lehughes]

Dear Laurie,
I am just wondering.....you mentioned that hanging traction is so helpful as a way to be proactive with the spinal health of Boston Terriers and small dogs. Do you mind explaining this?
I understand that Traction can help to decrease inflammation and improve blood flow/circulation.
I love tail pulls as well....
but how is traction helpful as a preventive? to help nourish the spinal cord?
Thank you!
J

[lehughes]

Okay, so my rationale for prescribing hanging traction is that b/c in many of the little dogs / chondrodystrophics especially, degeneration of the discs starts even within the first year of life. So, what if we could impact blood flow and cartilage nutrition before you ever saw clinical signs of IVDD? Magical!
All in all, we should assume that all chondrodystrophics have IVDD (research shows this to be true). The non-chondrodystrophics have the same IVDD as the chondro dogs… it’s just that their discs degenerate more slowly.

Beyond that, we could be impacting the soft tissues, perhaps the dura, and then the cord - in order for them to be more resilient.

Those are my thoughts anyways!

Cheers,

Laurie