Alternative Therapies in Health and Medicine, 2002/11, 8(6):74-76, type of study: ,cct,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

Full text    (https://europepmc.org/article/med/12440842)

Keywords:

autonomic nervous system [154]
blood flow velocity [4]
controlled clinical trial [324]
cranial osteopathy [64]
cranial rhythmic impulse [34]
OMT [3925]
osteopathic manipulative treatment [3946]
Traube-Hering-Mayer oscillation [8]

Abstract:

Context: A correlation has been established between the Traube-Hering-Mayer oscillation in blood-flow velocity, measured by laser-Doppler flowmetry, and the cranial rhythmic impulse. Objective: To determine the effect of cranial manipulation on the Traube-Hering-Mayer oscillation. Design: Of 23 participants, 13 received a sham treatment and 10 received cranial manipulation. Setting: Osteopathic Manipulative Medicine Department, Midwestern University, Downers Grove, Ill. Participants: Healthy adult subjects of both sexes participated (N=23). Intervention: A laser-Doppler flowmetry probe was placed on the left earlobe of each subject to obtain a 5-min baseline bloodflow velocity record. Cranial manipulation, consisting of equilibration of the global cranial motion pattern and the craniocervical junction, was then applied for 10 to 20 min; the sham treatment was palpation only. Main Outcome Measure: Immediately following the procedures, a 5-min posttreatment laser-Doppler recording was acquired. For each cranial treatment subject, the 4 major components of the blood-flow velocity record, the thermal (Mayer) signal, the baro (Traube-Hering) signal, the respiratory signal, and the cardiac signal, were analyzed, and the pretreatment and posttreatment data were compared. Results: The 10 participants who received cranial treatment showed a thermal signal power decrease from 47.79 dB to 38.49 dB (P <.001) and the baro signal increased from 47.40dB to 51.30 dB (P <.021), while the respiratory and cardiac signals did not change significantly (P>.05for both). Conclusion: Cranial manipulation affects the blood-flow velocity oscillation in its low-frequency Traube-Hering-Mayer components. Because these low-frequency oscillations are mediated through parasympathetic and sympathetic activity, it is concluded that cranial manipulation affects the autonomic nervous system.