M. Tech. / OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to assess the effect of Chiropractic Spinal Manipulative Therapy (CSMT) of the cervical spine on the key-strike accuracy of adults typing on a standard keyboard. By reducing the negative neural and other effects caused by aberrant movement between vertebrae, CSMT could allow optimal propagation and processing of upper limb proprioceptive information and improve cognitive processing needed for accurate typing. DESIGN: Forty subjects presenting to the University of Johannesburg Chiropractic Clinic participated in the study. The participants were allocated to one of two groups. Participants in the Experimental Group received spinal manipulative therapy to restricted segments in the cervical spine, as was determined by motion palpation of the cervical spine. Participants in the Control Group received detuned ultrasound therapy as a placebo. Patients were seen a total of six times over a period of three weeks. MEASUREMENTS: Participants were asked to copy a document on a standard computer keyboard, once before the treatment trial, and once following the treatment trial. The number of errors made pre-treatment was calculated and compared to the number of errors made post-treatment. CONCLUSION: Patients in the experimental group made significantly less typing errors following the treatment trial, while there was no difference in the number of typing errors made by patients in the control group. The results of this study increase potential for the chiropractic profession to contribute to the efficiency of the increasing number of people in the population that perform work on computers.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:uj/uj:6737 |
| Date | 31 March 2010 |
| Creators | Le Grange, Jean Christian |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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