None listed
Conditions
Brief summary
This clinical trial was developed to look at the role that chiropractic may have in co-managing asthma sufferers with spinal manipulative therapy (SMT). A multisite clinical trial was conducted that attracted up to 160 participants. Randomly allocated participants were assigned to one of three groups (A, B and C) for a period of 14-weeks of participation. Participants in group A received up to 18 chiropractic SMT sessions. During this time all participants in all groups provided regular salivary samples for hormone (cortisol) and immune (immunoglobulin A) function analysis as well as wellness questionnaires. Groups B and C did not receive any spinal manipulative therapy. The aims of this study were to determine whether stress is a factor in the pathophysiology of asthma and to determine the mechanisms by which chiropractic co-management of asthma sufferers can alleviate their symptoms. More specifically, our study aimed at determining whether chiropractic treatment has beneficial effects on the endocrine and the immune systems through measurement of salivary cortisol and salivary immunoglobulin A (IgA) respectively.
Interventions
Chronic Asthma Sufferers who qualified for this study were randomly allocated to three groups, A, B and C. Groups A attended treatment centers and only group A receive 3 spinal manipulative therapy sessions per week for up to 6-weeks, in one of 19 treating centers within NSW. Randomly allocated control participants in group B also attended treating centers and participated in all assessments criteria but did not receive any spinal manipulative therapy for 6-weeks. Assessment included interviews
Chronic Asthma Sufferers who qualified for this study were randomly allocated to three groups, A, B and C. Groups A attended treatment centers and only group A receive 3 spinal manipulative therapy sessions per week for up to 6-weeks, in one of 19 treating centers within NSW. Randomly allocated control participants in group B also attended treating centers and participated in all assessments criteria but did not receive any spinal manipulative therapy for 6-weeks. Assessment included interviews with attending clinician, palpation of the spine (hands on assessment of spinal motion only), completed questionnaires and submitted salivary samples. However, Group C participants provided all salivary samples and questionnaire for the same period of 6-weeks from home. Spinal manipulative therapy involves the use of hands on techniques to articulate vertebral joints. Specifically this chiropractic technique involved a high velocity low amplitude thrust delivered in a desired direction to restore joint motion. On average a treatment session would be between 15 and 20 minutes.
Sponsors
Macquarie University
Study design
Allocation
Randomised controlled trial
Intervention model
Parallel
Primary purpose
Treatment
Masking
Blinded (masking used)
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
All
Age
9 Years to 65 Years
Healthy volunteers
No
Inclusion criteria
Chronic asthma sufferers with a minimum of 6-months diagnosis and who were on a regularly managed medical program were included into this study.
Exclusion criteria
Subjects who fulfilled the inclusion criteria and who have received spinal manipulative therapy during the last 6-months period were excluded from the study. Equally, subject who had other associated health complications such as osteopenia or osteoporosis due to long term corticosteroid therapy were excluded.
Outcome results
None listed