ArticleThe journal of pain2018
Brain Mechanisms of Anticipated Painful Movements and Their Modulation by Manual Therapy in Chronic Low Back Pain.
Article in The journal of pain, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 22 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
22 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 47 citations in OpenAlex.
- Brain functional changes following spinal manipulation therapy in patients with lumbar disc herniation and chronic low back pain: a scoping review.Frontiers in neurology · 2025Pooled it
- A systematic review of chiropractic care for fall prevention: rationale, state of the evidence, and recommendations for future research.BMC musculoskeletal disorders · 2022Pooled it
- The impact of spinal manipulation on lumbar proprioception and its link to pain relief: a randomized controlled trial.Scientific reports · 2025Trial
- Default mode network and dorsal attentional network connectivity changes as neural markers of spinal manipulative therapy in lumbar disc herniation.Scientific reports · 2024Trial
- Optimization of Spinal Manipulative Therapy Protocols: A Factorial Randomized Trial Within a Multiphase Optimization Framework.The journal of pain · 2021Trial
- Neurophysiological Response of Spinal Mobilization and Manipulation in Individuals With and Without Musculoskeletal Spine Disorders: A Scoping Review.The European journal of neuroscience · 2026Article
- Mechanistic Explanations of Manual Therapy Do Not Influence Outcomes in Healthy Individuals: A Randomized Controlled Trial.Health science reports · 2026Article
- Rethinking coping in chronic pain: a systematic review and dynamic interaction model of coping.Pain reports · 2026Review
- Abnormalities in sensorimotor brain function are related to chronicity of low back pain.NeuroImage · 2026Article
- Technologies to investigate the mechanisms of force-based manipulations: a narrative methods review.Frontiers in pain research (Lausanne, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Article
- Bibliometric Analysis of Research Trends on Manual Therapy for Low Back Pain Over Past 2 Decades.Journal of pain research · 2023Article
- An Investigation of the Nature of Fear within ACL-Injured Subjects When Exposed to Provocative Videos: A Concurrent Qualitative and Quantitative Study.Sports (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Article
- [Spinal manipulation therapy in low back pain : Why? When? Where? How?]Der Orthopade · 2022Review
- Pain catastrophizing mediates rapid benefits of accessing in-person chiropractic care during the COVID-19 lockdown.European journal of pain (London, England) · 2022Article
- The Changes of Brain Function After Spinal Manipulation Therapy in Patients with Chronic Low Back Pain: A Rest BOLD fMRI Study.Neuropsychiatric disease and treatment · 2022Article
- Visuomotor processing is altered after peripheral nerve damage in neuralgic amyotrophy.Brain communications · 2022Article
- Temporal Grading Index of Functional Network Topology Predicts Pain Perception of Patients With Chronic Back Pain.Frontiers in neurology · 2022Article
- A spinal manipulative therapy altered brain activity in patients with lumbar disc herniation: A resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging study.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2022Article
- Segmental Chiropractic Spinal Manipulation Does not Reduce Pain Amplification and the Associated Pain-Related Brain Activity in a Capsaicin-Heat Pain Model.Frontiers in pain research (Lausanne, Switzerland) · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
10 authors at 4 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Heightened anticipation and fear of movement-related pain has been linked to detrimental fear-avoidance behavior in chronic low back pain (cLBP). Spinal manipulative therapy (SMT) has been proposed to work partly by exposing patients to nonharmful but forceful mobilization of the painful joint, thereby disrupting the relationship among pain anticipation, fear, and movement. Here, we investigated the brain processes underpinning pain anticipation and fear of movement in cLBP, and their modulation by SMT, using functional magnetic resonance imaging. Fifteen cLBP patients and 16 healthy control (HC) subjects were scanned while observing and rating video clips depicting back-straining or neutral physical exercises, which they knew they would have to perform at the end of the visit. This task was repeated after a single session of spinal manipulation (cLBP and HC group) or mobilization (cLBP group only), in separate visits. Compared with HC subjects, cLBP patients reported higher expected pain and fear of performing the observed exercises. These ratings, along with clinical pain, were reduced by SMT. Moreover, cLBP, relative to HC subjects, demonstrated higher blood oxygen level-dependent signal in brain circuitry that has previously been implicated in salience, social cognition, and mentalizing, while observing back straining compared with neutral exercises. The engagement of this circuitry was reduced after SMT, and especially the spinal manipulation session, proportionally to the magnitude of SMT-induced reduction in anticipated pain and fear. This study sheds light on the brain processing of anticipated pain and fear of back-straining movement in cLBP, and suggests that SMT may reduce cognitive and affective-motivational aspects of fear-avoidance behavior, along with corresponding brain processes. PERSPECTIVE: This study of cLBP patients investigated how SMT affects clinical pain, expected pain, and fear of physical exercises. The results indicate that one of the mechanisms of SMT may be to reduce pain expectancy, fear of movement, and associated brain responses.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.