title: Understanding inhibitory mechanisms of lumbar spinal manipulation using H-reflex and F-wave responses: a methodological approach.
abstract: The purpose of this research was to characterize unique neurophysiologic events following a high velocity, low amplitude (HVLA) spinal manipulation (SM) procedure. Descriptive time series analysis techniques of time plots, outlier detection and autocorrelation functions were applied to time series of tibial nerve H-reflexes that were evoked at 10-s intervals from 100 s before the event until 100 s after three distinct events L5-S1 HVLA SM, or a L5-S1 joint pre-loading procedure, or the control condition. Sixty-six subjects were randomly assigned to three procedures, i.e., 22 time series per group. If the detection of outliers and correlograms revealed a pattern of non-randomness that was only time-locked to a single, specific event in the normalized time series, then an experimental effect would be inferred beyond the inherent variability of H-reflex responses. Tibial nerve F-wave responses were included to determine if any new information about central nervous function following a HVLA SM procedure could be ascertained. Time series analyses of H(max)/M(max) ratios, pre-post L5-S1 HVLA SM, substantiated the hypothesis that the specific aspects of the manipulative thrust lead to a greater attenuation of the H(max)/M(max) ratio as compared to the non-specific aspects related to the postural perturbation and joint pre-loading. The attenuation of the H(max)/M(max) ratio following the HVLA SM procedure was reliable and may hold promise as a translational tool to measure the consistency and accuracy of protocol implementation involving SM in clinical trials research. F-wave responses were not sensitive to mechanical perturbations of the lumbar spine.
authors.affiliation: Palmer College of Chiropractic Florida, 4777 City Center Pkwy, Port Orange, FL 32129, USA. donald.dishman@palmer.edu
authors.forename: J Donald
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Dishman
authors.forename: Kenneth A
authors.initials: KA
authors.lastname: Weber
authors.forename: Roger L
authors.initials: RL
authors.lastname: Corbin
authors.forename: Jeanmarie R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Burke
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D004558:Electric Stimulation; D004576:Electromyography; D005260:Female; D006181:H-Reflex / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008159:Lumbar Vertebrae; D008297:Male; D020393:Manipulation, Spinal / Q000379:methods*; D008875:Middle Aged; D059167:Mirror Neurons / Q000502:physiology*; D018482:Muscle, Skeletal / Q000294:innervation / Q000502:physiology; D009433:Neural Inhibition / Q000502:physiology*; D011187:Posture / Q000502:physiology; D011930:Reaction Time; D013116:Spinal Cord / Q000502:physiology*; D013997:Time Factors; D055815:Young Adult