Do diaphragmatic muscle energy techniques effect the blood flow in the lower limb?
Item
- Title
- Do diaphragmatic muscle energy techniques effect the blood flow in the lower limb?
- Author(s)
- Long Andrew
- Abstract
-
Muscular Energy Techniques are techniques that are widely utilised by osteopaths and many physical therapists as part of their treatment of varying disorders. With in the osteopathic profession, blood flow has long been a primary concern when looking at the treatment of their patients. In this study 16 asymptomatic subjects, all from the British College of Osteopathic Medicine under went a direct Muscle Energy Technique to the Diaphragm in order to establish if there was an effect on the cutaneous blood flow in the dorsum of both feet. Method; Prior to the intervention each subject was assessed for the influencing factors such as weight, exercise, diet and medication as well as under going a medical and osteopathic examination. A laser Doppler flowmetry was used to measure the relative changes in the cutaneous blood flow. The subjects were measured continuously for fifteen minutes. The first five was used as the control, the second was used for the intervention and the last five minutes was used for the post-intervention recordings Results: Data was acquired from the laser Doppler software was an average of the pre and post recordings and subjected to a matched pair test to calculate its significance .A significant (p<0.05)increase in the cutaneous blood flow was found in both the right and the left foot following the Muscle Energy Technique to the diaphragm unlike the sham which showed no significance (p>0.05).Were as after the 'sham' MET there was no significant(p>0.05) change in the blood flow in the lower limb in either leg. Conclusion: The exact mechanism of these finding is poorly understood, so further research is needed. However these are important findings for Naturopathic and Osteopathic medicine as they indicate that METs to the diaphragm do alter the blood flow in the lower limb, giving the therapist an extra therapeutic tool use to aid the body in fighting off disease.
Further Research
A study with larger subject group would have enabled the analysis of the data to be more accurately performed. It would also be ideal for the study to be carried out as a double blind study therefore reducing the amount of variables that could affected the results.
Lengthening the periods of measurements in the post-intervention phases would have enabled the study to gauge whether the bpu increase was short term or whether there were any long-term effects. This information would have been invaluable in the clinic setting for the treatment of lower limb diseases.
Looking at the effect of diaphragmatic METs in symptomatic subjects would be clinically relevant and would show whether for example healing times in the lower limb could be reduced
Other techniques utilised by osteopaths could also be investigated in a cross over study design, for example with HVTs and mobilisations (Vincenzino et al. 1998 and Purdy et al. 1996).
Looking at blood pressure (BP), blow flow in the arms, heart rate, lung function and other variables may have broadened the understanding of the experimental effect. - presented at
- British College of Osteopathic Medicine
- Date Accepted
- 0
- Date Submitted
- 1.1.1970 00:00:00
- Type
- osteo_thesis
- Language
- English
- Submitted by:
- 62
- Pub-Identifier
- 13641
- Inst-Identifier
- 1076
- Recommended
- 0
- Item sets
- Thesis
Long Andrew, “Do diaphragmatic muscle energy techniques effect the blood flow in the lower limb?”, Osteopathic Research Web, accessed April 26, 2024, https://www.osteopathic-research.com/s/orw/item/1116