The last fifteen to twenty years have seen slow but steady advancements in terms of evidence surrounding chiropractic care. Within this body of evidence, studies on the neural plastic effects of spinal manipulation (as it is called in academic journals) have emerged with encouraging and even exciting results. Clinical trials are slowly building up in the evidence bank, and this is wonderful news for the chiropractic profession. There is a world of work yet to be done, but we are on our way.
The latest piece of work to add to the bank emerges from Dr Heidi Haavik and the team from the Centre for Chiropractic Research at NZCC. It looked at the impact of spinal manipulation on the cortical drive to upper and lower limb muscles. With previous research showing that chiropractic spinal adjustments can increase the strength of leg muscles, the team was interested to know more about whether the increase in strength was occurring at the brain or spinal cord level.
“We used transcranial magnetic brain stimulation and tested the muscle responses with increasing brain stimulations,” says lead author Heidi Haavik (PhD, DC). “We also tested spinal cord excitability to the same muscles using a method called F waves. One other thing we measured in this study was a type of brain measure that we know is 100% happening in the brain (and not the spinal cord) called a Movement Related Cortical Potential (MRCP).”
Haavik went on to explain that the early part of the MRCP is known to happen exclusively at the level of the cortex in the brain. In this study, Haavik and her team looked at both a hand muscle and a leg muscle in different experiments, before and after either a control intervention or a chiropractic intervention.
The full study, including all the details is available here. But if you just want the scoop, here’s what you need to know:
“This research has big implications,” says an enthusiastic Heidi Haavik. “It is possible that patients who have lost muscle tonus and/or are recovering from muscle degrading dysfunctions such as stroke or orthopaedic operations could also benefit from chiropractic care. These findings are also very relevant to sports performers (although this too must also be followed up with more research), because it indicates that chiropractic care may help their brains to more efficiently produce greater outputs. So all in all a very exciting study!”
Congratulations to the team on getting another important piece of chiropractic research published, and contributing to the body of knowledge surrounding why and how chiropractic care works. It is indeed a very exciting study.
[1] Haavik H, Niazi IK, Jochumsen M, Sherwin D, Flavel S, Türker KS. (2017) Impact of spinal manipulation on cortical drive to upper and lower limb muscles. Brain Sciences. In Press
Back pain , Physiotherapy. Woman Chiropractic pain relief adjustment /Kinesiology treatment . Osteopathy practitioner
Adio Media – We teach health practitioners how to share their message and attract high quality new patients using video. Members receive 10% off our online courses. Learn more here.
Chiropractic Flight School – Flight Instruments is a statistics tool that gives the chiropractor fast and important information about their practice. Members receive a 50% discount on ‘Flight Instruments’. Learn more here.
Chiropractic Business Course – BSA is for Chiropractors to scale their business, automate procedures and increase overall business performance! Members receive a 20% discount on the online program. Learn more here.
Martin Chiropractic – Martin tables deliver robust and stable treatment platform which represents keen value and are guaranteed to last. Martin tables are proudly Australian made. Members receive a free leather upgrade, from standard vinyl cushions. Learn more here.
Existing members can access these discounts here.