Effects of Lumbosacral Manipulation on Isokinetic Strength of the Knee Extensors and Flexors in Healthy Subjects: A Randomized, Controlled, Single-Blind Crossover Trial

Grant D. Sanders, Arthur J. Nitz, Mark G. Abel, T. Brock Symons, Robert Shapiro, W. Scott Black, James W. Yates

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

9 Scopus citations

Abstract

Objective: The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of manual manipulations targeting the lumbar spine and/or sacroiliac joint on concentric knee extension and flexion forces. Torque production was measured during isometric and isokinetic contractions. Methods: This was a randomized, controlled, single-blind crossover design with 21 asymptomatic, college-aged subjects who had never received spinal manipulation. During 2 separate sessions, subjects' peak torques were recorded while performing maximal voluntary contractions on an isokinetic dynamometer. Isometric knee extension and flexion were recorded at 60° of knee flexion, in addition to isokinetic measurements obtained at 60°/s and 180°/s. Baseline measurements were acquired before either treatment form of lumbosacral manipulation or sham manipulation, followed by identical peak torque measurements within 5 and 20 minutes posttreatment. Data were analyzed with a repeated measures analysis of variance. Results: A statistically significant difference did not occur between the effects of lumbosacral manipulation or the sham manipulation in the percentage changes of knee extension and flexion peak torques at 5 and 20 minutes posttreatment. Similar, nonsignificant results were observed in the overall percentage changes of isometric contractions (spinal manipulation 4.0 ± 9.5 vs sham 1.2 ± 6.3, P = .067), isokinetic contractions at 60°/s (spinal manipulation -. 4.0 ± 14.2 vs sham -. 0.3 ± 8.2, P = .34), and isokinetic contractions at 180°/s (spinal manipulation -. 1.4 ± 13.9 vs sham -. 5.5 ± 20.0, P = .18). Conclusion: The results of the current study suggest that spinal manipulation does not yield an immediate strength-enhancing effect about the knee in healthy, college-aged subjects when measured with isokinetic dynamometry.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)240-248
Number of pages9
JournalJournal of Chiropractic Medicine
Volume14
Issue number4
DOIs
StatePublished - Dec 1 2015

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2015 National University of Health Sciences.

Keywords

  • Knee
  • Muscle strength
  • Spinal manipulation

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Chiropractic

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Effects of Lumbosacral Manipulation on Isokinetic Strength of the Knee Extensors and Flexors in Healthy Subjects: A Randomized, Controlled, Single-Blind Crossover Trial'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this