Vertebral-traction bed is a kind of rehabilitation medical equipment combined with traction and massage of traditional Chinese medicine and automation technology，which can treat cervical and lumbar disease. The vertebral-traction bed can achieve complex traction methods which doctors cannot achieve. The vertebral-traction bed can not only achieve a therapeutic effect，but also reduce the heavy manual labor of doctors. This paper summarizes the mechanisms，functions and classification of traction bed and introduces the research status in China and foreign countries in detail including mechanical traction bed，inverted traction bed and multidimensional electric traction bed. This paper also analyzes the future trends of traction beds in functionalization，intelligence and safety.