History of skeletal traction in the treatment of cervical spine injuries

Abstract

✓ Therapy of cervical spine fractures is reviewed from the time of the Egyptians (4000 B.C.) to the present day. Immobilization has been practiced for slightly more than a century; devices for exerting traction upon the skull have been in use for 37 years. The Renaissance surgeon, Fabricus Hildanus, designed a tool for exerting traction upon the cervical vertebrae, but this method did not become popular. Until the 20th century, few physicians considered the therapy of this common injury.