title: The initial effects of a cervical spine manipulative physiotherapy treatment on the pain and dysfunction of lateral epicondylalgia.
abstract: Manipulative therapy is frequently used in the management of musculoskeletal pain. A frequently reported clinical feature of this treatment is the immediacy with which it appears to initiate improvement in pain and function. A randomised, double blind, placebo controlled, repeated measures design was employed to study the initial effects of a cervical spine treatment technique in a group of 15 patients with lateral epicondylalgia. Pressure pain threshold, pain-free grip strength, upper limb neurodynamics, pain and function were assessed prior to and following application of either a treatment, placebo or control condition. All subjects received all three conditions. Differences between the pre-post measures were used as indicators of change in subject's symptom profiles. The treatment condition produced significant improvement in pressure pain threshold, pain-free grip strength, neurodynamics and pain scores relative to placebo and control conditions (P < 0.05). In summary, this study demonstrates that manipulative therapy is capable of eliciting a rapid hypoalgesic effect.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physiotherapy, University of Queensland,Queensland, 4072,Australia Department of Pharmacy, University of Queensland,Queensland, 4072,Australia.
authors.forename: Bill
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Vicenzino
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Collins
authors.forename: Anthony
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Wright
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002574:Cervical Vertebrae; D004311:Double-Blind Method; D006801:Humans; D008349:Manipulation, Orthopedic; D008875:Middle Aged; D010146:Pain / Q000209:etiology; D059408:Pain Management; D017288:Pain Threshold; D026741:Physical Therapy Modalities; D013716:Tennis Elbow / Q000150:complications*