Neuromuscular Responses to Spinal Manipulation

This week, another ‘geek-out’ on how spinal manipulation induces neuromuscular responses…if you’re interested, Dr. Simon Wang and I created a 5-hour, on-demand e-seminar on all aspects of mechanisms research called “The Science of the Chiropractic Adjustment: Have we cracked the code?”, check it out here

Now on to this week’s Research Review…

High-velocity, low-amplitude spinal manipulation (HVLA-SM) is increasing in popularity worldwide as a treatment for musculoskeletal (MSK) pain, despite a lack of understanding of its underlying physiological mechanisms. This limits its appropriate clinical use and efficacy. This treatment is most often used by chiropractors, physiotherapists, and osteopaths, primarily to treat MSK pain, improve or restore joint immobility, and/or address muscular hypertonicity/spasm. 

While an increasing amount of research has been conducted on HVLA-SM in the last two decades, our understanding of the mechanisms behind it remains extremely limited. This is largely due to inadequate study designs, small sample sizes, lack of appropriate controls, and/or lack of HVLA-SM delivery standards.

The authors of this paper aimed to provide an overview of the literature relating to the neuromuscular responses to HVLA-SM.

This week’s Research Review:

Neuromuscular Responses to Spinal Manipulation

This paper was published in Medicina (2025)

You can access this review for a few dollars here, or subscribe for access to the whole catalogue of new and existing reviews here.