Abstract
Objective
To evaluate the short-term effect on spinal mobility, pain perception, neural mechanosensitivity,
and full height recovery after high-velocity, low-amplitude (HVLA) spinal manipulation
(SM) in the lumbosacral joint (L5-S1).
Design
Randomized, double-blind, controlled clinical trial with evaluations at baseline and
after intervention.
Setting
University-based physical therapy research clinic.
Participants
Men (N=40; mean age ± SD, 38±9.14y) with diagnosed degenerative lumbar disease at
L5-S1 were randomly divided into 2 groups: a treatment group (TG) (n=20; mean age
± SD, 39±9.12y) and a control group (CG) (n=20; mean age ± SD, 37±9.31y). All participants
completed the intervention and follow-up evaluations.
Interventions
A single L5-S1 SM technique (pull-move) was performed in the TG, whereas the CG received
a single placebo intervention.
Main Outcome Measures
Measures included assessing the subject's height using a stadiometer. The secondary
outcome measures included perceived low back pain, evaluated using a visual analog
scale; neural mechanosensitivity, as assessed using the passive straight-leg raise
(SLR) test; and amount of spinal mobility in flexion, as measured using the finger-to-floor
distance (FFD) test.
Results
The intragroup comparison indicated a significant improvement in all variables in
the TG (P<.001). There were no changes in the CG, except for the FFD test (P=.008). In the between-group comparison of the mean differences from pre- to postintervention,
there was statistical significance for all cases (P<.001).
Conclusions
An HVLA SM in the lumbosacral joint performed on men with degenerative disk disease
immediately improves self-perceived pain, spinal mobility in flexion, hip flexion
during the passive SLR test, and subjects' full height. Future studies should include
women and should evaluate the long-term results.
Keywords
List of abbreviations:
CG (control group), DD (disk degeneration), FFD (finger-to-floor distance), HVLA (high-velocity, low-amplitude), IVD (intervertebral disk), LBP (low back pain), MRI (magnetic resonance imaging), ROM (range of motion), SLR (straight-leg raise), SM (spinal manipulation), TG (treatment group), VAS (visual analog scale)To read this article in full you will need to make a payment
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: May 23, 2014
Footnotes
Australian and New Zealand Clinical Trial Registry No.: ACTRN12613000430730.
Disclosures: none.
Identification
Copyright
© 2014 American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
