Abstract
Objective
Cervical mobilization has been shown to elicit effects on pain perception, autonomic
function, and motor function in subjects who experience musculoskeletal pain. The
improvement in motor function may be a direct effect of the treatment or secondary
to a hypoalgesic effect. This study tested whether it is possible to alter motor function
following joint mobilization in situations where motor performance is not impaired
by pain.
Methods
Twenty-four asymptomatic subjects participated in this double-blind, controlled, within-subjects
crossover study. Pressure pain thresholds and electromyographic activity of the superficial
neck flexor muscles were compared with repeated-measures analysis of variance between
a posteroanterior cervical mobilization, manual contact, and noncontact condition.
Results
The results indicate no significant change in the pressure pain threshold (P =.846) after posteroanterior cervical mobilization. There was no significant difference
in superficial neck flexor muscle activity during the craniocervical flexion test
(P =.713). Post hoc power analysis demonstrated the ability to detect a 15% difference
in electromyographic activity with 70% power.
Conclusion
The improvement in motor function demonstrated in previous studies was not replicated,
suggesting that either it is only possible to produce an effect when motor function
is impaired or the change in motor function is secondary to the pain inhibitory effect
of the treatment.
Key Indexing Terms
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: October 18, 2010
Accepted:
July 21,
2010
Received in revised form:
July 1,
2010
Received:
February 18,
2010
Identification
Copyright
© 2010 National University of Health Sciences. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
