Abstract
M.Tech. (Chiropractic)
Purpose: The aim of this study was to compare the effect of manual chiropractic manipulations versus a mechanical manipulating device on the influence on oscillations at different frequencies with an extracranial scalp quantitative electroencephalogram (QEEG).
Method: A comparative design using random group allocation was chosen for this study. This study looked for changes in the QEEG readings before and after manual chiropractic manipulations and compared them to before and after readings of the mechanical manipulating device results. The study took place in the Chiropractic Clinic at the University of Johannesburg’s Doornfontein campus. The study comprised twenty participants with cervical spine motion restrictions who were randomly allocated into two groups of ten. The QEEG was used to record the participants’ brain wave activity with their eyes open and then closed before any manipulation was given. Post-manipulation, there was a reading done immediately after, again with the eyes open and then closed, as well as thirty minutes post-manipulation. The QEEG data was converted into mean values of the brain waves, theta and beta. These values were used to find any statistical significance in the results. An exploratory analysis was performed with the assistance of Statkon to identify relationships in the results using the theta: beta ratio.
Results: Findings of particular interest in this study were evident in the parietal lobe. In the parietal lobe, there was a significant difference between Group A (mechanical manipulation) and Group B (manual manipulation) in the intergroup analysis pre-manipulation (p=0.019) and post-manipulation (p=0.023) when the participants’ eyes were open. After assessing the mean ranks, it could be concluded that manual manipulation had a greater effect on the parietal lobe than mechanical manipulation. In the frontal and temporal lobe, although important, no findings were of particular interest as there were no statistically significant findings evident in the results relating to these lobes.
Conclusion: In this study, the limited findings indicate that no clear conclusions can be drawn with regards to whether or not mechanical manipulation has a similar effect to manual manipulation. The study has contributed positively to the claim that manual manipulation does have an effect on QEEG as there were significant changes present post-manual manipulation in