Abstract

OBJECTIVE:

To determine the biomechanical characteristics of five clinically common methods of cervical spine manipulation.

DESIGN:

Descriptive study.

SETTING:

Human Performance Lab, University of Calgary.

PARTICIPANTS:

Five volunteer practitioners treating symptomatic patients from their own clinical populations.

INTERVENTION:

Five commonly used methods of cervical spine manipulation: lateral break (LAT), Gonstead (GON), Activator (ACT), toggle (TOG), rotation (ROT).

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE:

Mean thrust duration (msec), normalized mean peak force (N), slope (N/msec), force profile (graphic representation of the above values.

RESULTS:

Outcome measures for each manipulative technique were as follows: LAT = normalized mean peak force of 102.2 N at 86.7 msec, GON = 109.8 N at 91.9 msec, ACT = 40.9 N at 31.8 msec, TOG = 117.6 N at 47.5 msec, ROT = 40.5 N at 79.1 msec.

CONCLUSION:

The observed differences and similarities in force profiles between the five techniques studied here may partly be the manifestation of how a particular technique delivers force to the cervical spine. The clinical significance of force profile characterization is not yet known.


J Manipulative Physiol Ther. 1993 Nov-Dec;16(9):573-7. [PMID:8133191]

Author information: Kawchuk GN, Herzog W. University of Calgary, Faculty of Physical Education, Alberta, Canada.