Thoracolumbar spinal manipulation and the immediate impact on exercise performance

The purpose of this study was to determine if thoracolumbar chiropractic manipulative therapy (CMT) had an immediate impact on exercise performance by measuring blood lactate concentration, exercise heart rate, and rating of perceived exertion during a treadmill-based graded exercise test (GXT).

Ten healthy, asymptomatic male and 10 female college students (age = 27.5 ± 3.7 years, height = 1.68 ± 0.09 m, body mass = 71.3 ± 11.6 kg: mean ± SD) were equally randomized into an AB:BA crossover study design. Ten participants were in the AB group, and 10 were in the BA group. The study involved 1 week of rest in between each of the 2 conditions: A (prone Diversified T12-L1 CMT) vs B (no CMT). Participants engaged in a treadmill GXT 5 minutes after each week's condition (A or B). Outcome measures were blood lactate concentration, exercise heart rate, and rating of perceived exertion monitored at the conclusion of each 3-minute stage of the GXT. The exercise test continued until the participant achieved greater than 8 mmol/L blood lactate, which correlates with maximal to near-maximal exercise effort. A dependent-samples t test was used to make comparisons between A and B conditions related to exercise performance.

No statistically significant difference was shown among any exercise response dependent variables in this study.

The results of this research preliminarily suggest that CMT to T12-L1 does not immediately impact exercise performance during a treadmill-based GXT using healthy college students.