M.Tech. / Terrett (1994) has a theory that diminished blood flow to the brain causes some areas to ‘hibernate’ that is, remain alive, but not function, resulting in diminished mental capacity. He also states that he is sure this is exactly what happens to many people every day, and that it could be the reason they suffer from problems such as tiredness, headache, depression, irritability, difficulty concentrating, poor attention span, visual difficulty, and so forth (Terrett, 1994). Brain function can be detrimentally affected by occipito-atlanto-axial subluxations (Eriksen, 2004). Research showed an improved brain stem evoked response after patients were adjusted. This indicated that the neural messages were going through their brain stems more quickly or with less delay (Shambaugh, Pearlman & Hauck, 1991). The aim of this study was to determine whether spinal manipulative therapy of the cervical spinal segments have any influence on the attention and higherlevel cognitive functioning and processing of an individual who has not received any chiropractic treatment to his/her cervical spine three months prior to the study. Any patient presenting to the University of Johannesburg Chiropractic Day Clinic was considered a potential candidate for the study. The patients were briefly screened through a case history, pertinent physical examination, cervical spine examination and soap note (Appendix E, F, G and H) that were performed at the initial consultation to determine the patients’ suitability for the study. The participants were invited to sign a consent form. In total forty participants were invited to take part in the study. Participants were put into either the adjusting group, or the control group, according to their gender and age. Participants received spinal manipulative therapy to all restricted segments in their cervical spines. Participants in the PDF created with pdfFactory Pro trial version www.pdffactory.com iv control group received detuned ultrasound therapy over the posterior aspect of their cervical spines. Both groups performed the coding test (Appendix D) before their first treatment and after their third treatment, as well as a questionnaire to obtain some personal information and to indicate their present feelings and emotions (Appendix C). The results indicate that there was a statistical difference at the ten percent level of significance in terms of the average number of blocks completed and the average number of blocks filled in correctly for the adjusting group. There was also a statistical difference at the ten percent level of significance in terms of the average number of blocks / symbols changed for the control group. The adjusting group worked more effectively and made fewer mistakes than the control group after the treatment trial was completed. For the chiropractic profession this opens huge potential with regards to the chiropractic benefits and improving the functioning of the society.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:uj/uj:8256 |
| Date | 31 March 2009 |
| Creators | Kotze, Elize |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
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