Objective: To determine the degree to which acute cervical spine manipulation impacts standing balance for participants with and without neck pain.
Methods: 383 participants engaged in a standing Y-balance baseline test to determine how far they could reach in 3 directions (anterior, posteromedial, and posterolateral) per lower limb. Afterwards participants’ degree of neck pain was recorded and they were randomized to either receive cervical spinal manipulative therapy (SMT) or no SMT. Next the participants engaged in a Y-balance post-test yielding the four following compared groups: group 1 (no neck pain- no SMT), group 2 (no neck pain- SMT), group 3 (neck pain-SMT), and group 4 (neck pain- no SMT). Pain group data and no pain group data were independently analyzed with a mixed-design 2-way repeated measures ANOVA.
Results: By post-test, groups changed their absolute reach distance (ARD) value as follows: no neck pain-no SMT= +2.0 cm, no neck pain-SMT= +2.2 cm, neck pain-SMT= +2.2 cm, and neck pain-no SMT= -0.1 cm. By post-test 3 of the 4 groups improved their ARD to a small degree, while the neck pain-no SMT group remained relatively the same. The neck pain-SMT group mirrored the trend seen in the no-pain groups of improvement at post-test.
Conclusion: Singular cervical SMT to participants with neck pain resulted in a small increase in standing Y-balance test performance, similar to the increase seen in the no pain control groups, but it did not reach minimally clinically important difference (MCID).
Author Keywords: Kinesthesis; Core Stability; Postural Balance; Posture; Psychomotor Performance
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