Our present invention relates to an exercising apparatus for traction therapy by the autotraction method, particularly in the treatment of back, neck and hip complaints. Most of the known arrangements for these purposes are relatively elaborate and complicated with all their associated adjustment and driving devices and require the assistance of another person such as a doctor or physiotherapist for adjusting the tension etc, in order to achieve the correct degree of traction. It is, however, impossible to achieve an optimum effect from the treatment point of view, since the supervising person cannot himself sense the effect of the tractive force, the pressure of the bandage or the pain actually experienced. Moreover, treatment by elaborate and complicated forms of apparatus can be carried out only in treatment centers equipped therefor and consequently, as is usual in nursing, only at predetermined times. Special forms of apparatus are, for this purpose, required for the different forms of treatment, such as for example back and hip traction.
An apparatus for stretching the human spine and for strengthening and cramp-relieving its muscle system has become known (see German printed specification No. 1,278,698) which is in the form of a U-shaped yoke whose limbs are spaced by a distance exceeding the width of the user's body, strap means for the head, feet or pelvis being exchangeably secured to the central portion of the yoke. In this apparatus the limbs of the yoke are of such a length that the apparatus is operable by extended arms, placed alongside the body, and provided with rigidly arranged handgrips, which extend at right angles to the plane of the yoke. Thus the length of the limbs corresponds to approximately half the body length.
The application of such an apparatus is, thanks to its simplicity, not limited to treatment centers and does not necessarily entail the assistance of another person. The design was, however, unsuccessful in practice since it still suffers from a number of disadvantages. The U-shape with relatively long limbs entails, at the ends of the limbs where the handgrips are rigidly secured, a degree of resiliency which is highly undesirable and which can only be eliminated at the expense of an exceptionally massive and hence also heavy design of the yoke. Moreover, the rigid position of the handgrips extending in all directions at right angles to the plane of the frame is unsatisfactory for some treatment purposes.