Influence of Spinal Manipulation on Muscle Spasticity and Manual Dexterity in Participants With Cerebral Palsy:...

The aim of this study was to investigate the short-term effects of spinal manipulation (SM) on wrist muscle spasticity and manual dexterity in participants with cerebral palsy (CP).

After baseline examination, 78 participants with spastic CP (7-18 years) without contractures or hyperkinetic syndrome were randomly allocated into 2 groups. The experimental group underwent SM to the cervical, thoracic, and lumbar spine, and the control group received sham SM. A second evaluation was performed 5 minutes postintervention. Wrist muscle spasticity was measured quantitatively with NeuroFlexor (Aggero MedTech AB, Solna, Sweden), a device assessing resistance to passive movements of different velocities. Between-group difference was calculated using the Mann-Whitney U test. Manual dexterity was evaluated by the Box and Block test.

In the experimental group, muscle spasticity was reduced by 2.18 newton from median 5.53 with interquartile range 8.66 to median 3.35 newton with interquartile range 7.19; the difference was statistically significant (P = .002). In the control group, reduction in spasticity was negligible. The between-group difference in change of muscle spasticity was statistically significant (P = .034). Improvement of manual dexterity was not statistically significant (P = .28).

These findings suggest that SM may, in the short term, help to reduce spasticity in participants with CP. Long-term effects of SM on muscle spasticity have yet to be studied.