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Regional Manual Therapy
Hip & PelvisManual Traction & Joint DistractionGeneral regional overview

PNA Regional Principles · Overview

Hip & Pelvis — Traction / Distraction

What changes when Manual Traction & Joint Distraction meets the hip & pelvis? Start with the patient's movement, assess safely, and see what the re-test reveals.

1 specific variationsClinical re-test built in

Important: this is a clinical framework, not a complete technique protocol.

This page was generated from broader regional principles. It can help you frame assessment, patient comfort, safety and reassessment, but its generic positioning, contact and dosage text must not be treated as technique-specific hands-on instruction. Study a detailed, individually authored procedure and use supervised practical training.

Read the parent technique and its specific clinical methods

Specific variations

How this technique is applied in the hip & pelvis

Each variation below is written so you can follow patient setup, contact, direction, dose and the re-test that decides whether the technique earned a place in the plan.

01
Hip & PelvisHip joint

Hip Long-Axis Distraction

One question matters more than the name of this variation: will the patient notice a useful change in Hip ROM and gait? The careful re-test gets the final word.

The change we are looking for

Reduce compression sensitivity and prepare mobility

Primary target

Hip joint

The movement that tells us

Hip ROM and gait

Patient focus

Reduce compression sensitivity and prepare mobility

Therapist verifies

Hip ROM and gait

Success signal

Keep the technique only if the re-test shows a meaningful improvement in hip rom and gait without symptom worsening.

Full clinical application
1

Position the patient

Supine, prone or side-lying with pelvis stabilized.

2

Set the contact

Region-specific contact over Hip joint using the parent technique principles.

3

Apply the technique

Long-axis distraction

4

Dose & re-test

Use a conservative response-guided trial and reassess before repeating. Re-test: Hip ROM and gait

Safety / do not apply when…

Screen fracture, severe OA irritability, postoperative restrictions, acute inflammatory pathology and red-flag pelvic symptoms.

Stop or modify if symptoms peripheralize, neurological status worsens, the response is disproportionate or the patient asks to stop.

Clinical rule

A technically correct technique is not automatically a useful technique. Keep it only when the patient's pain, range or function improves in a clinically meaningful way, then transfer that gain into active movement, loading or self-management.