He has taught mathematics in junior high, high school, two community colleges in Washington and Oregon, and at Washington State University. He had private practices in Sunnyvale, California and Evanston, Wyoming from 1979-1993. 97012 Mechanical Traction and CPT Code 97140 Manual Therapy Techniques . Since BCBS ideas often filter down to other insurance companies in all states, I have elected to respond in this column to their arbitrary description of mechanical traction in the above mentioned form letter. The BCBS definition of mechanical traction shows their complete ignorance of mechanical engineering definitions and principles.
Spinal traction is used to distract joint surfaces and stretch soft tissues.
Joint distraction is defined as the separation of two articular surfaces perpendicular to the plane of the articulation. First, Webster s defines traction as a pulling force exerted on skeletal structure by means of a special device and a state of tension created by such a pulling force . Webster s defines tension as the act of stretching and the stress resulting from the elongation of an elastic body . Since force is a vector, stress is a vector. We will use arrows to indicate vectors.