I always hate to offer medical information, especially as an anectodal example, but here goes. My wife has an intermittent cervical disc. After trying everything but surgery, she finds that neck traction is the best, so far.
She steals my LWB bent when it flares up, which lets her keep riding (unfortunately the EXTENDED neck position on her carbon fiber road bike is anatomically the WRONG position, unlike a previous post stated) and as bkaapcke stated, the natural FLEXED position of a LWB bent is the best therapeutic position for both cervical discs and garden variety osteoarthritic changes.
I keep asking her why she doesn't simply get a lightweight LWB bent, at least for use when her neck flares up, usually after long tours with her TREK, instead of stealing my bent and banishing me to my old dust catching upright. She is convinced now, and probably will keep her lightweight TREK with a light LWB bent on order for next spring and use both, depending on the state of her neck and hip. As an aside, she also says her hip pain goes away with the bent as an added bonus, and admits she likes leaving the padded shorts and gloves at home. But she does love the light weight and nimbleness of her carbon fiber TREK, so I suspect she'll rack up miles on both!