The neurophysiological response to manual therapy and its analgesic implications: A narrative review
Author and article information
Abstract
Manual therapy has long been a component of physical rehabilitation programs, especially to treat those in pain. The mechanisms of manual therapy, however, are not fully understood, and it has been suggested that its pain modulatory effects are of neurophysiological origin, and may be mediated by the descending modulatory circuit. Therefore, the purpose of this review is to examine the neurophysiological response of different types of manual therapy, in order to better understand the neurophysiological mechanisms behind each therapy’s analgesic effects. It is concluded that different forms of manual therapy elicit analgesic effects via different mechanisms. Additionally, future avenues of mechanistic research pertaining to manual therapy are discussed.
Cite this as
2015. The neurophysiological response to manual therapy and its analgesic implications: A narrative review. PeerJ PrePrints 3:e996v2 https://doi.org/10.7287/peerj.preprints.996v2Author comment
This version includes the correction of typos/formatting errors and the addition of a meta-analysis to the massage section, which notes methodological flaws in previous research and reviews.
Sections
Additional Information
Competing Interests
The authors declare no conflicts of interest.
Author Contributions
Andrew D Vigotsky analyzed the data, wrote the paper, prepared figures and/or tables, reviewed drafts of the paper.
Ryan P Bruhns analyzed the data, wrote the paper, reviewed drafts of the paper.
Funding
The authors declare no sources of funding.