Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics
Volume 27, Issue 5 , Pages 314-326 , June 2004

Central Neuronal Plasticity, Low Back Pain and Spinal Manipulative Therapy

  • Robert W Boal, PhD

      Affiliations

    • Corresponding Author InformationRobert W. Boal, PhD, Basic Science Department, Western States Chiropractic College, 2900 NE 132nd Avenue, Portland, OR 97230
    • Professor, Biochemistry, Basic Science Department, Western States Chiropractic College, Portland, OreUSA
  • Richard G Gillette, PhD

      Affiliations

    • Professor, Neurophysiology, Basic Science Department, Western States Chiropractic College, Portland, OreUSA

Received 17 March 2003

References 

  1. Anderson R, Meeker W, Wirick B, Mootz R, Kirk D, Adams A. A meta-analysis of clinical trials of spinal manipulation. J Manipulative Physiol Ther. 1992;15:181–194
  2. Shekelle P, Adams A, Chassin M, Hurwitz E, Brook R. Spinal manipulation for low-back pain. Ann Intern Med. 1992;117:590–598
  3. Koes BW, Assendelft WJJ, van der Heijden G, Bouter LM. Spinal manipulation for low back pain. An updated systematic review of randomized clinical trials. Spine. 1996;21:2860–2873
  4. Van Tulder MW, Koes BW, Bouter LM. Conservative treatment of acute and chronic nonspecific low back pain. Spine. 1997;22:2128–2156
  5. In:  Gatterman MI editors. Foundations of chiropractic subluxation. St. Louis: Mosby; 1995;p. 6–17
  6. Leach RA. In: The chiropractic theories. A synopsis of scientific research. 3rd ed.. Baltimore: Williams & Wilkins; 1994;p. 15–22
  7. Palmer DD. In: Textbook of the science, art and philosophy of chiropractic. Portland (OR): Portland Printing House; 1910;p. 56–58
  8. Palmer BJ. In: The science of chiropractic. Davenport (IA): Palmer School of Chiropractic; 1911;p. 36–62
  9. Faye LJ. In: Motion palpation and clinical considerations of the lumbar spine and pelvis. Huntington Beach (CA): Motion Palpation Institute Publication; 1986;p. 2
  10. Dishman R. Review of the literature supporting a scientific basis for chiropractic subluxation complex. J Manipulative Physiol Ther. 1985;8:163–175
  11. Lantz CA. The vertebral subluxation complex. ICA Review. 1989;45:37–61
  12. Mootz RD, CiRullo BL, Haney PL. The existence of the manipulable spinal lesion. In:  Coyle BA editors. Current topics in chiropractic: reviews of the literature. Sunnyvale (CA): Palmer College of Chiropractic-West; 1984; p. B4:1–16
  13. Haldeman S. The importance of neurophysiological research into the principles of spinal manipulation. Bulletin European Chiropractors Union. 1976;24:10–18
  14. Sandoz ZR. Some physical mechanisms and effects of spinal adjustments. Ann Swiss Chiropractors. 1976;6:91–141
  15. Bergman TF, Peterson DH, Lawrence DJ. In: Chiropractic technique: principles and procedures. New York: Churchill Livingston; 1993;p. 151
  16. Rahlmann JF. Mechanisms of intervertebral joint fixation: a literature review. J Manipulative Physiol Ther. 1987;10:177–187
  17. In: Chiropractic in New Zealand–report of the Commission of Inquiry. Wellington, New Zealand: PD Hasselberg, Government Printer; 1979;p. 43
  18. Will TE. The biochemical basis of manipulative therapeutics: hypothetical considerations. J Manipulative Physiol Ther. 1978;1:153–156
  19. Slosberg M. Effects of altered afferent articular input on sensation, proprioception, muscle tone and sympathetic reflex responses. J Manipulative Physiol Ther. 1988;11:400–408
  20. Irving RE. Pain and the protective reflex generators: relevance to the chiropractic concept of spinal subluxation. J Manipulative Physiol Ther. 1981;4:69–71
  21. Zusman M. A theoretical basis for short-term relief of some types of spinal pain with manipulative therapy. Man Med. 1987;3:54–56
  22. Henderson CNR. Three neurophysiological theories on chiropractic subluxation. In:  Gatterman MI editors. Foundations of chiropractic subluxation. St. Louis: Mosby; 1995;p. 225–233
  23. Korr IM. The neural basis of the osteopathic lesion. J Am Osteopath Assoc. 1947;150:191–198
  24. Patterson MM, Smertz JE. Long-lasting alterations of spinal reflexes: a potential basis for somatic dysfunction. Man Med. 1986;2:38–42
  25. Gillette RG. A speculative argument for the co-activation of diverse somatic receptor populations by forceful chiropractic adjustments. Man Med. 1987;3:1–14
  26. Gillette RG. Spinal cord mechanisms of referred pain and related neuro-plasticity. In:  Gatterman MI editors. Foundations of chiropractic subluxation. St. Louis: Mosby; 1995;p. 279–301
  27. Terrett ACJ, Vernon HT. Manipulation and pain tolerance: a controlled study of the effect of spinal manipulation on paraspinal cutaneous pain tolerance levels. Am J Phys Med. 1984;63:217–225
  28. Wyke BD. Articular neurobiology and manipulative therapy. In:  Idczak RM editors. Aspects of manipulative therapy. 2nd ed. Melbourne: Churchill and Livingstone; 1987;p. 67–72
  29. Vernon H, Hu J. Neuroplasticity/craniofacial pain mechanisms: a review of basic science studies. J Neuromusculoskeletal Sys. 1999;7:51–64
  30. Davis C. Chronic pain/dysfunction in whiplash-associated disorders. J Manipulative Physiol Ther. 2001;24:44–51
  31. Coderre TJ, Katz J, Vaccarino AL, Melzack R. Contributions of central neuroplasticity to pathological pain: review of clinical and experimental studies. Pain. 1993;52:259–285
  32. Pocket S. Spinal cord synaptic plasticity and chronic pain. Anesth Analg. 1995;80:173–179
  33. Sandkühler J. Learning and memory in pain pathways. Pain. 2000;88:113–118
  34. Svendsen F, Tjolsen A, Hole K. LTP of spinal Aβ and C-fibre evoked responses after electrical sciatic nerve stimulation. Neuroreport. 1997;8:3427–3430
  35. Randic M, Jiang MC, Cerne R. Long-term potentiation and long-term depression of primary afferent neurotransmission in the rat spinal cord. J Neurosci. 1993;13:5228–5241
  36. Pockett S. Long-term potentiation and depression in the intermediate gray matter of rat spinal cord in vitro. J Neurosci. 1995;67:791–798
  37. Liu XG, Sandkühler J. Long-term potentiation of C-fiber-evoked potentials in the rat spinal dorsal horn is prevented by spinal N-methyl-D-aspartic acid receptor blockade. Neurosci Lett. 1995;191:43–46
  38. Bittar P, Muller D. Time-dependent reversal of long-term potentiation by brief coding shocks in rat hippocampal slices. Brain Res. 1993;20:181–188
  39. Linden DJ. Long-term synaptic depression in the mammalian brain. Neuron. 1994;12:457–472
  40. Sandkühler J, Chen JG, Cheng G, Randic M. Low-frequency stimulation of afferent Aδ-fibers induces long-term depression at primary afferent synapses with substantia gelatinosa neurons in the rat. J Neurosci. 1997;17:6483–6491
  41. Sandkühler J. Long-lasting analgesia following TENS and acupuncture: spinal mechanisms beyond gate control. In: Devor M, Rowbotham MC, Wiesenfeld-Hallin Z, editors. Proceedings of the 9th World Congress on Pain, Progress in Pain Research and Management, 16; 1999 Aug 22-27; Vienna, Austria. Seattle (WA): IASP Press; 2000. p. 359-369.
  42. Liu XG, Morton CR, Azkue JJ, Zimmermann M, Sandkühler J. Long-term depression of C-fibre evoked spinal field potentials by stimulation of primary Aδ-fibres in the adult rat. Eur J Neurosci. 1998;10:3069–3075
  43. Fields HL. Pain. New York: McGraw-Hill; 1987;
  44. Gillette RG, Kramis RC, Roberts WJ. Suppression of activity in spinal nociceptive “low back” neurons by paravertebral somatic stimuli in the cat. Neurosci Lett. 1998;241:45–48
  45. Ruch TC. Visceral sensation and referred pain. In:  Fulton JF editors. Howell's textbook of physiology. 15th ed. Philadelphia: WB Saunders Co; 1946;p. 385–401
  46. Kellgren JH. The anatomical source of back pain. Rheumatol Rehabil. 1977;16:3–12
  47. Wei F, Wang GD, Kerchner GA, Kim SJ, Xu HM, Chen ZF, et al.  Genetic enhancement of inflammatory pain by forebrain NR2B over-expression. Nat Neurosci. 2001;4:164–169
  48. Costigan M, Woolf CJ. Pain: molecular mechanisms. J Pain. 2000;1(Suppl 1):35–44
  49. Woolf CJ, Salter MW. Neuronal plasticity: increasing the gain in pain. Science. 2000;288:1765–1768
  50. Sanes JR, Lichtman JW. Can molecules explain long-term potentiation?. Nat Neurosci. 1999;2:597–604
  51. Luscher C, Nicoll RA, Malenka RC, Muller D. Synaptic plasticity and dynamic modulation of the postsynaptic membrane. Nat Neurosci. 2000;3:545–550
  52. Ikeda H, Heinke B, Ruscheweyh R, Sandkühler J. Synaptic plasticity in spinal lamina I projection neurons that mediate hyperalgesia. Science. 2003;229:1237–1240
  53. Cerne R, Jiang MC, Randic M. Long-lasting modification in synaptic efficacy at primary afferent synapses with neurons in rat superficial spinal dorsal horn. Abstr Soc Neurosci. 1991;17:1331
  54. Pocket S, Figurov A. Long-term potentiation and depression in the ventral horn of the rat spinal cord in vitro. Neuroreport. 1993;4:97–99
  55. Liu XG, Sandkühler J. Characterization of long-term potentiation of C-fiber evoked potentials in spinal dorsal horn of adult rat: essential role of NK1 and NK2 receptors. J Neurophysiol. 1997;78:1973–1982
  56. Sandkühler J, Liu XG. Induction of long-term potentiation at spinal synapses by noxious stimulation or nerve injury. Eur J Neurosci. 1998;10:2476–2480
  57. Rygh LJ, Svendsen F, Hole K, Tjolsen A. Natural noxious stimulation can induce long-term increase of spinal nociceptive responses. Pain. 1999;82:305–310
  58. Svendsen F, Tjolsen A, Hole K. AMPA and NMDA receptor-dependent spinal LTP after nociceptive tetanic stimulation. Neuroreport. 1998;9:1185–1190
  59. Svendsen F, Tjolsen A, Rygh LJ, Hole K. Expression of long-term potentiation in single wide dynamic range neurons in the rat is sensitive to blockade of glutamate receptors. Neurosci Lett. 1999;259:25–28
  60. Liu XG, Sandkühler J. Activation of spinal N-methyl-D-aspartate or neurokinin receptors induces long-term potentiation of spinal C-fibre evoked potentials. Neuroscience. 1998;86:1209–1216
  61. Mense S, Simons DG, Russell IJ. In: Muscle pain: understanding its nature, diagnosis and treatment. Philadelphia: Lippincott Williams and Wilkins; 2001;p. 168
  62. Roberts WJ, Gillette RG, Kramis RC. Dorsal horn plasticity relating to low back pain. JCCA. 1992;36:108–109
  63. Gillette RG, Kramis RC, Roberts WJ. Characterization of spinal somatosensory neurons having receptive fields in lumbar tissues of cats. Pain. 1993;54:85–98
  64. Gillette RG, Kramis RC, Roberts WJ. Sympathetic activation of cat spinal neurons having receptive fields in lumbar tissues of cats. Pain. 1994;56:31–42
  65. Kramis RC, Gillette RG, Roberts WJ. Neurophysiology of chronic idiopathic back pain. In:  White AH editors. Spine care. St. Louis: Mosby; 1995;p. 104–115
  66. Gillette RG, Roberts WJ, Kramis RC. Spinal cord c-FOS induced by “low back” injury vs. paraspinal capsaicin. Abstr Soc Neurosci. 1997;23:1802
  67. Gillette RG, Roberts WJ, Kramis RC. Supraspinal neuronal c-FOS expression triggered by noxious stimulation of the lumbar spine in rats. Abstr Soc Neurosci. 1999;25:1673
  68. Roberts WJ, Kramis RC, Gillette RG. Enhanced c-FOS expression in spinal neurons due to prior inflammation of lumbar paraspinal tissues. Abstr Soc Neurosci. 1997;23:1802
  69. Ohtori S, Takahashi K, Chiba T, Takahashi Y, Yamagata M, Sameda H, et al.  Fos expression in the rat brain and spinal cord evoked by noxious stimulation to low back muscle and skin. Spine. 2000;25:2425–2430
  70. Herzog W, Kats M, Symons B. The effective forces transmitted by high-speed, low-amplitude thoracic manipulation. Spine. 2001;26:2105–2110
  71. Abraham WC, Christie BR, Logan B, Lawlor P, Dragunow M. Immediate early gene expression associated with the persistence of heterosynaptic long-term depression in the hippocampus. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1994;91:10049–10053
  72. Vernon H. Qualitative review of studies of manipulation-induced hypoalgesia. J Manipulative Physiol Ther. 2000;23:134–138
  73. Glover JR. Back pain and hyperaesthesia. Lancet May. 1960;28:1165–1168
  74. Wang K, Liu J. Needling sensation receptor of an acupoint supplied by the median nerve–studies of their electrophysiological characteristics. Am J Chin Med. 1989;17:145–155
  75. Ghomane EA, Craig WF, White PF, Ahmed HE, Hamza MD, Gajraj NM, et al.  The effect of stimulus frequency on the analgesic response to percutaneous electrical nerve stimulation in patients with chronic low back pain. Anesth Analg. 1999;88:841–846
  76. Thomas M, Lundberg T. Importance of modes of acupuncture in the treatment of chronic nociceptive low back pain. Acta Anaesthesiol Scand. 1994;38:63–69
  77. Leibing E, Leonhardt U, Koster G, Goerlitz A, Rosenfeldt JA, Hilgers R, et al.  Acupuncture treatment of chronic low-back pain–a randomized, blinded, placebo-controlled trial with 9-month follow-up. Pain. 2002;96:189–196
  78. Willis WD, Westlund KN. Neuroanatomy of the pain system and of the pathways that modulate pain. J Clin Neurophysiol. 1997;14:2–31
  79. Oliet SH, Malenka RC, Nicoll RA. Two distinct forms of long-term depression coexist in CA1 hippocampal pyramidal cells. Neuron. 1997;18:969–982
  80. Huang CC, Hsu KS. Progress in understanding the factors regulating reversibility of long-term potentiation. Rev Neurosci. 2001;12:51–68
  81. Svendsen F, Tjolsen A, Gjerstad J, Hole K. Long term potentiation of single WDR neurons in spinalized rats. Brain Res. 1999;816:487–492
  82. Bliss TVP, Lomo T. Long-lasting potentiation of synaptic transmission in the dentate area of the anaesthetized rabbit following stimulation of the perforant path. J Physiol. 1973;232:331–356
  83. Bliss TVP, Gardner-Medwin AR. Long-lasting potentiation of synaptic transmission in the dentate area of the unanaesthetized rabbit following stimulation of the perforant path. J Physiol. 1973;232:357–374
  84. Bliss TVP, Collingridge GL. A synaptic model of memory: long-term potentiation in the hippocampus. Nature. 1993;361:31–39
  85. Malenka RC. LTP and LTD: dynamic and interactive processes of synaptic plasticity. Neuroscientist. 1995;1:35–42
  86. Bear MF, Malenka RC. Synaptic plasticity: LTP and LTD. Curr Opin Neurobiol. 1994;4:389–399
  87. Morisset V, Nagy F. Ionic basis for plateau potentials in deep dorsal horn neurons of the rat spinal cord. J Neurosci. 1999;19:7309–7316
  88. Malinow R, Malenka R. AMPA receptor trafficking and synaptic plasticity. Annu Rev Neurosci. 2002;25:103–126
  89. Zhou Q, Ziao MY, Nicoll RA. Contribution of cytoskeleton to the internalization of AMPA receptors. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2001;98:1261–1266
  90. Lisman J. The CaM kinase II hypothesis for the storage of synaptic memory. Trends Neurosci. 1994;7:35–42
  91. Lisman JE, Zhabotinsky AM. A model of synaptic memory; a CaMKII/PP1 switch that protentiates transmission by organizing an AMPA receptor anchoring assembly. Neuron. 2001;31:191–201
  92. Lisman JE. A mechanism for the Hebb and anti-Hebb processes underlying learning and memory. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1989;86:9574–9578
  93. Lao L, Zhang G, Feng W, Berman BM, Ren K. Electro-acupuncture attenuates behavioral hyperalgesia and selectively reduces spinal Fos protein expression in rats with persistent inflammation. J Pain. 2001;2:111–117
  94. Harris JA, Westbrook RF, Duffield TQ. Fos expression in the spinal cord is suppressed in rats displaying conditioned hypoalgesia. Behav Neurosci. 1995;109:320–328
  95. Lee JH, Beitz AJ. Electroacupuncture modifies the expression of c-fos in the spinal cord induced by noxious stimulation. Brain Res. 1992;577:80–91
  96. Morgan MM, Gogas KR, Basbaum AI. Diffuse noxious inhibitory controls reduce the expression of noxious stimulus-evoked Fos-like immunoreactivity in the superficial and deep laminae of the rat spinal cord. Pain. 1994;56:347–352
  97. Linden DJ, Connor JA. Long-term synaptic depression. Annu Rev Neurosci. 1995;18:319–357
  98. Winder DG, Sweat JD. Roles of serine/threonine phosphatases in hippocampal synaptic plasticity. Nat Rev Neurosci. 2001;23:461–474
  99. Song I, Huganir RL. Regulation of AMPA receptors during synaptic plasticity. Trends Neurosci. 2002;25:578–588

PII: S0161-4754(04)00048-X

doi: 10.1016/j.jmpt.2004.04.005

Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics
Volume 27, Issue 5 , Pages 314-326 , June 2004

Article Tools

* Image Usage & Resolution