title: Effect of cervical spine manipulative therapy on judo athletes' grip strength.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The objective of this study was to perform an investigation evaluating if cervical spinal manipulative therapy (SMT) can increase grip strength on judo athletes in a top 10 national-ranked team.
  
  
  METHODS
  A single-blinded, prospective, comparative, pilot, randomized, clinical trial was performed with 18 athletes of both sexes from a judo team currently competing on a national level. The athletes were randomly assigned to 2 groups: chiropractic SMT and sham. Three interventions were performed on each of the athletes at different time points. Force measurements were obtained by a hydraulic dynamometer immediately before and after each intervention at the same period before training up to 3 weeks with at least 36 hours between interventions.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Analysis of grip strength data revealed a statistically significant increase in strength within the treatment group after the first intervention (6.95% right, 12.61% left) as compared with the second (11.53% right, 17.02% left) and the third interventions (10.53% right, 16.81% left). No statistically significant differences were found in grip strength comparison within the sham group. Overall differences in strength were consistently significant between the study groups (P = .0025).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The present study suggests that the grip strength of national level judo athletes receiving chiropractic SMT improved compared to those receiving sham.
authors.affiliation: Quiropraxia@hotmail.com
authors.forename: Marcelo B
authors.initials: MB
authors.lastname: Botelho
authors.forename: Bruno B
authors.initials: BB
authors.lastname: Andrade
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D056352:Athletes; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D018737:Hand Strength / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D020393:Manipulation, Spinal / Q000379:methods*; D016139:Martial Arts; D059408:Pain Management; D010865:Pilot Projects; D011446:Prospective Studies; D016037:Single-Blind Method; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D055815:Young Adult