None listed
Conditions
Brief summary
Over the past decade there has been growing evidence to suggest that chiropractic care influences brain function. The researchers that have done this work have used sophisticated brain research methods such as measuring brain waves using electroencephalography (EEG). These studies have shown that adjusting subluxations in the spine alters function in various brain structures. However, the evidence for the involvement of these brain structures is indirect. Although EEG measures brain activity very accurately time-wise, it has poor spatial resolution, which means it’s hard to tell exactly where in the brain the activity occurs. Recently efforts have been made to improve the spatial resolution of EEG using a new EEG technique, known as multichannel matching pursuit technique. With this technique it is possible to determine with greater clarity where in the brain activity occurs. We intend to use this new technique to explore which structures in the brain are talking to each other prior to, and after, chiropractic adjustments. We believe that we will be able to identify differences in the way the brains of a group of 20 individuals who are developing spinal symptoms, function compare with a group of 20 healthy people with no history of symptoms and a group of 20 people in pain. We also believe that a single session of chiropractic care will change the way parts of the brain are talking to each other. We aim to reveal the brain areas involved in subclinical pain processing, then study the communication between these brain areas and how the communication changes following a single session of spinal adjustments. By completing this study the researchers hope to gain a much better understanding about how vertebral subluxations and adjustments affect nervous system function.
Interventions
The participants will attend two intervention sessions in random order. The experimental intervention will be a single session of chiropractic care. 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. The intervention will take approximately 10 minutes to carry out. There will be a 1 week washout period between the 2 interventions.
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
Yes
Inclusion criteria
Sixty participants will be recruited from the New Zealand College of Chiropractic community to participate in this study. Twenty will be pain free, 20 will be experiencing back or neck pain at the time of the study, and 20 subclinical spinal pain subjects will be recruited. Participants may include students, staff, faculty, and previous patients of the College’s chiropractic centre. Subjects will be eligible for inclusion if they are English speaking, aged 18-50, and have previously sought chiropractic care. The pain group will be experiencing back or neck pain at the time that they participate in the trial. The subclinical pain group will have some history of recurring spinal dysfunction such as mild pain, ache, and/or stiffness with or without a history of known trauma.
Exclusion criteria
Subjects 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 a current upper or lower limb disorder/dysfunction that would make them unable to carry out data recording sessions (e.g. sprain/strain/fracture).
Outcome results
None listed