How about those inversion tables? And I saw this thing on tv that you put your legs up on and they say it's supposed to kinda work the muscles around the spine loose. I've got a couple of herniated discs, too, and sometimes I fantasize that I can just reach right through my stomach and rub the parts that hurt.
Nope,not even close,a real traction table is a whole other principal.
Have you taken any physical therapy,if not ask your doc to refer you then ask the therapist for traction,i walked into the therapy joint looking like quasimoto all hunched over & my leg slooping along ,plus being in an assload of pain,the therapist girl told me she was going to give me traction,i had very low expectations of traction & i even told her i'd rather not even do it cause it would make me hurt worse,she assured me it wouldnt hurt.
She strapped me in & for a few seconds nothing happened,then once the pressure got around 200lbs it was like a moment of clarity,i'd been in agony 24/7 for 5 solid months,chewing up oxy's,vocoden's & morphine sulphate's like they were M&M's with no reduced pain, then all at once the pain was gone,it was a scary feeling not to feel the severe pain i'd lived with for that many months.
I walked in with a pain level of 10 & walked out of that place standing tall with a pain level of 2 & it only took 15 minutes,im going to ebay right now to dig you up a link for an auction for one of these machines so you'll know what the home units are.