ArticleArchives of physiotherapy2019
Feasibility and effectiveness of thoracic spine mobilization on sympathetic/parasympathetic balance in a healthy population - a randomized controlled double-blinded pilot study.
Article in Archives of physiotherapy, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT02832141 (Effect of Thoracic Spine Mobilization on Skin-blood Flow, Erythema and Sympathetic Nervous Systems), which is not on this map. Cited by 4 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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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.
Effect of Thoracic Spine Mobilization on Skin-blood Flow, Erythema and Sympathetic Nervous Systems
Who cites it
4 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Effects of mobilization or manipulation of the thoracic spine on autonomic nervous system markers in symptomatic and asymptomatic participants - a systematic review and meta-analysis.The Journal of manual & manipulative therapy · 2025Pooled it
- Multimodal Approaches in the Management of Temporomandibular Disorders: A Narrative Review.Journal of clinical medicine · 2025Review
- Comparative Effects of Neurodynamic Slider and Tensioner Mobilization Techniques on Sympathetic Nervous System Function: A Randomized Controlled Trial.Journal of clinical medicine · 2024Article
- Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundPhysiotherapists often use thoracic spine mobilization (TSM) to reduce pain in patients with back disorders via a reduction of sympathetic activity. There is a "trade-off" in the activity of the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system activity. A sympathetic/parasympathetic balance (SPB) is needed to guarantee body homeostasis. However, body homeostasis is seldom considered as an aim of the treatment from the perspective of most physiotherapists. Strong empirical evidence for the effects of TSM on the SPB is still lacking.Some studies showed that spinal manipulation may yield beneficial effects on SPB. Therefore, it could be hypothesized that TSM is feasible and could influence SPB reactions. The primary aim was to describe the participants' adherence to the intervention and to the measurement protocol, to identify unexpected adverse events (UAE) after TSM, to evaluate the best method to measure SPB parameters (heart rate variability (HRV), blood pressure (BP), heart rate (HR), skin perfusion and erythema) and to estimate the investigation procedure. The secondary aim was to assess the effects of TSM on SPB parameters in a small sample of healthy participants.
methodsThis crossover pilot study investigated TSM using posterior-anterior mobilization (PAM) and anterior-posterior mobilization (APM) on segments T6 to T12 in twelve healthy participants during two consecutive days. To evaluate feasibility, the following outcomes were assessed: adherence, UAE, data collection and data analysis. To evaluate the effect of TSM on SPB, HRV, BP, HR, skin perfusion and erythema were measured.
resultsThe adherence was 100%. No UAE were reported. PAM showed larger effect sizes compared to APM in many secondary variables.
conclusionsAlthough 100% maximal adherence was reached and no UAE were observed, data recording in future studies should be done during a second time interval while the data transfer from device to the computer software should occur immediately after completion of each participant's measurement. The results of this pilot study suggest that PAM can reduce HRV HF and HRV ratio LF/HF and increase HR.
trial registrationClinicalTrail.gov (NCT02832141).
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