title: Biomechanical characterization (fingerprinting) of five novel methods of cervical spine manipulation.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To determine the biomechanical characteristics of five clinically common methods of cervical spine manipulation.
  
  
  METHODS
  Descriptive study.
  
  
  METHODS
  Human Performance Lab, University of Calgary.
  
  
  METHODS
  Five volunteer practitioners treating symptomatic patients from their own clinical populations.
  
  
  METHODS
  Five commonly used methods of cervical spine manipulation: lateral break (LAT), Gonstead (GON), Activator (ACT), toggle (TOG), rotation (ROT).
  
  
  METHODS
  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.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  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.
authors.affiliation: University of Calgary, Faculty of Physical Education, Alberta, Canada.
authors.forename: G N
authors.initials: GN
authors.lastname: Kawchuk
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Herzog
mesh_terms: D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena; D002574:Cervical Vertebrae; D002684:Chiropractic / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D017060:Patient Satisfaction; D013131:Spine