None listed
Conditions
Brief summary
Low back pain (LBP) is a major health problem that affects up to 90% of people during their lifetime (Darlow et al., 2014). Approximately one third of individuals will suffer recurrent episodes of low back pain that require treatment after becoming pain free and apparently returning to full function (Wasiak, Kim, & Pransky, 2006). It is unclear why some people develop recurrent low back pain while others don’t (MacDonald, Moseley, & Hodges, 2009). Recently evidence has been accumulating that suggests that recurrent low back pain may be due to a change in neural control of the muscles of the trunk (Cholewicki et al., 2005; MacDonald et al., 2009). Proper function of the spinal muscles is critical for spinal motion and stability and spinal health (MacDonald et al., 2009). It is therefore not surprising that changes in spinal muscle control have been observed in individuals suffering from chronic LBP and sciatica and they are even present in sufferers of recurrent LBP between episodes of pain (MacDonald et al., 2009). These alterations in motor control that are associated with LBP include delayed onset of muscle activation during postural perturbations (delayed feed forward activation) (MacDonald et al., 2009) and delayed muscle reflex latency following force release in different directions of trunk movement (Cholewicki et al., 2005). Recent evidence suggests that chiropractic care alters the neural control of spinal muscles and may have a beneficial effect on reflex activity that is associated with LBP (Haavik & Murphy, 2012; Marshall & Murphy, 2006). The purpose of this study is to investigate whether a single session of chiropractic care alters trunk muscle activity that is associated with LBP in people with recurrent LBP who are in remission at the time of the study.
Interventions
The participants will attend two intervention sessions in random order, one will be an experimental session where they will receive chiropractic care, and the other will be a control session where they will receive no adjustments but will be repositioned as if the chiropractor was going to adjust their spine (i.e. cervical, thoracic and lumbar adjustment setups). This will act as a physiological control for time, as well as the vestibular, cutaneous and muscular afferent discharge changes involv
The participants will attend two intervention sessions in random order, one will be an experimental session where they will receive chiropractic care, and the other will be a control session where they will receive no adjustments but will be repositioned as if the chiropractor was going to adjust their spine (i.e. cervical, thoracic and lumbar adjustment setups). This will act as a physiological control for time, as well as the vestibular, cutaneous and muscular afferent discharge changes involved in moving and touching the subject when preparing for the adjustments. Care will be taken to ensure no forces are applied to individual segments during the control intervention. Full spine adjustments will be carried out during the experimental session. The entire spine and sacroiliac joints will be assessed for vertebral subluxations and adjusted where deemed necessary by a registered chiropractor with at least ten years clinical experience. Each intervention session will take approximately 1 hour and there will be a minimum 1 week washout period between each session.
Sponsors
New Zealand College of Chiropractic
Study design
Allocation
Randomised controlled trial
Primary purpose
Treatment
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
All
Age
18 Years to 50 Years
Healthy volunteers
No
Inclusion criteria
Participants will be eligible for inclusion if they are English speaking, aged 18-50, have a history of recurring low back pain, and display evidence of delayed feed forward activation times for abdominal muscles compared to deltoid.
Exclusion criteria
Participants will be ineligible to participate if they exhibit no evidence of vertebral subluxations, have absolute contraindications to spinal adjustments, have experienced previous significant adverse reactions to chiropractic care, or they are suffering from current LBP.
Outcome results
None listed