AbstractsPsychology

The purpose of the study was to determine whether cervicothoracic joint manipulation had an effect on grip strength over a period oftime. Thirty subjects participated in this study, the requirements were lower cervical spine pain/discomfort in conjunction with a cervicothoracic joint motion restriction based on motion and static palpation. The subjects were recruited from the Technikon Witwatersrand and surrounding businesses by means of information pamphlets and word of mouth. All the subjects received cervicothoracic joint manipulation six times each, three times in the first week, twice in the second week and finally once in the third week. Grip strength readings, were done prior to and after all the treatments, to ascertain whether there had been an immediate change in grip strength, and whether the grip strength had changed from treatment to treatment. A Vernon Mior Neck Pain and Disability Index as well as a Numerical Pain Rating Scale 101 was completed on the subjects first, third, and sixth visit. A repeated measure student's t-test (parametric) and a Wilcoxon Signed Rank Test (non-parametric) was performed. The results overall were shown to be statistically significant. It has been shown that chiropractic manipulative therapy is an effective means of increasing grip strength in participants with cervicothoracic junction motion restriction. It has also been shown that patients in general benefited from this study with respect to pain intensity.