The purpose of the study is to see if manipulation of the neck will change the way people who may or may not have neck pain, walk under differing conditions.
Volunteers in this study will be asked to do the following: 1) complete a series of questionnaires about health status and undergo physical screening of neck to make sure that manipulation will not be harmful; 2) walk in socks or bare feet across a computerized mat under 3 conditions - normal walking pace, walking while looking up and down repeatedly; and walking while looking left and right repeatedly; 3) have one of 2 manual therapy interventions to the neck; 4) repeat the walking across the computerized mat under those same 3 conditions. The 2 randomly assigned interventions are: cervical manipulation, or cervical contact. If assigned the manipulation, volunteers will lie face up and the trained therapist will move the joints in the neck in a gentle, but short and sharp manner which may produce a slight 'pop' or 'click'. If volunteers are assigned the cervical contact, they will lie on their back and the trained therapist will gently hold the head and neck for 45 to 60 seconds as they quietly relax.
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
BASIC_SCIENCE
Masking
TRIPLE
Enrollment
40
UNLV
Las Vegas, Nevada, United States
Gait Parameters - Composite Score
A composite score derived from specific gait parameters which include stride length, step length, step width, cadence
Time frame: Up to 10 minutes after intervention
Global Rating of Change Scale
Global rating of perceived change
Time frame: Up to 10 minutes after intervention
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