Heart Rate Variability Modulation Following a Manipulation in Pain Free Patients Versus Patients in Pain

NCT ID: NCT00740558

Last Updated: 2008-08-27

Study Results

Results pending

The study team has not published outcome measurements, participant flow, or safety data for this trial yet. Check back later for updates.

Basic Information

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Recruitment Status

COMPLETED

Clinical Phase

NA

Total Enrollment

53 participants

Study Classification

INTERVENTIONAL

Study Start Date

2004-07-31

Study Completion Date

2006-07-31

Brief Summary

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Background

The purpose of this study was to examine the heart rate variability (HRV) in the presence or the absence of pain in the lower back (L5), while receiving chiropractic care.

Methods

A total of 53 healthy participants were randomly assigned to a control, 2 treatment or 2 sham groups (n = 10 per group). Participants underwent an eight-minute acclimatizing period. The HRV tachygram (RR interval) data were recorded directly into a Suunto watch (model T6). The investigators analyzed the five minute pre-treatment and post treatments intervals. The spectral analysis of the tachygram was performed with the Kubios Software (University of Kuopio, Finland).

Detailed Description

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Background The chiropractic profession has in the past utilized research results from other fields of and extrapolated them into their science and clinical interpretation 1-4. More recently, chiropractic researchers looked into autonomic nervous system (ANS) adaptations in an animal model following a mechanical stress to the spinal column 5, a noxious mechanical stimulation 6 or a spinal manipulation 7.

In the human model, several investigations have been done to measure modifications of the heart rate variability (HRV) following cervical 8 and thoracic manipulations 9 or in a multisite clinical study 10 where details of the manipulation site were not provided. The site of interest for the chiropractic intervention was defined at the level of the lumbar spine, left and right L-5. This site was selected because most studies 8-10 measuring HRV have used the cervical or thoracic component of the spine. The effect of the lumbar parasympathetic nervous system has not been evaluated. In these studies 8-10, changes were observed in various HRV variables, while in two of those studies 8, 9, where sham groups were included, the sham conditions did not demonstrate any changes in the reported HRV parameters. There are strong indications that HRV is a good marker of ANS activity 19-24. Thus, in the three above mentioned studies, it appears that chiropractic interventions have an effect on the ANS.

At present, however, no studies to evaluate whether a lumbar spinal manipulation would produce a change in the HRV have been reported. Thus, the present study seeks to measure the effect of a lumbar adjustment, with a manually assisted mechanical force, producing a chiropractic adjustment, in participants without lumbar pain and a traditional adjustment in participants with lumbar pain on HRV. The hypothesis being that a lumbar intervention would have an acute effect on the ANS as demonstrated by the modulation of HRV variables.

Conditions

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Low Back Pain

Keywords

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HRV Activator Chiropractic VLF HF LF LF/HF

Study Design

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Allocation Method

RANDOMIZED

Intervention Model

PARALLEL

Primary Study Purpose

BASIC_SCIENCE

Blinding Strategy

NONE

Study Groups

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1

Two groups received a traditional chiropractic adjustment of the lumbar 5 and the other group received a manually assisted mechanical force adjustment of the lumbar 5.

Group Type ACTIVE_COMPARATOR

Activator methods technique

Intervention Type PROCEDURE

Chiropractic adjustment by a manually assisted mechanical force

Traditional chiropractic adjustment

Intervention Type PROCEDURE

Lumbar roll according to the Diversified technique of chiropractic adjusting

2

The investigators had two groups, one for each chiropractic technique used in the research project and we had a control group

Group Type SHAM_COMPARATOR

Activator methods technique

Intervention Type PROCEDURE

Chiropractic adjustment by a manually assisted mechanical force

Traditional chiropractic adjustment

Intervention Type PROCEDURE

Lumbar roll according to the Diversified technique of chiropractic adjusting

Interventions

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Activator methods technique

Chiropractic adjustment by a manually assisted mechanical force

Intervention Type PROCEDURE

Traditional chiropractic adjustment

Lumbar roll according to the Diversified technique of chiropractic adjusting

Intervention Type PROCEDURE

Other Intervention Names

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Activator methods Lumbar roll

Eligibility Criteria

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Inclusion Criteria

* Acute low back pain (pain group)
* Maintenance care for the pain free group and the control group

Exclusion Criteria

* For the control group (pain)
* For the non pain group pain
Minimum Eligible Age

18 Years

Maximum Eligible Age

65 Years

Eligible Sex

ALL

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Sponsors

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Université du Québec a Montréal

OTHER

Sponsor Role lead

Responsible Party

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UQAM

Principal Investigators

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Richard A Roy, DCMScPhD(c)

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Université du Québec a Montréal

Locations

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Chiro-clinique Richard Roy

LaSalle, Quebec, Canada

Site Status

Dr Richard Roy et Dr Fafard

LaSalle, Quebec, Canada

Site Status

Countries

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Canada

Other Identifiers

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051934

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id