Immediate Changes in Brain After Manual Therapy in Patients with Pain.
New research focused on the effects of manual therapies on pain modulation has revealed that therapies such as chiropractic spinal manipulation, spinal mobilization, and therapeutic touch have an immediate effect on the functional connectivity between brain regions involved in processing and modulating the pain experience. The results were gathered by using functional magnetic resonance imaging of the brain combined with measurements of pain sensitivity and intensity. The findings suggest that manual therapies may lead to neurophysiologic changes that result in pain relief.
Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics, October 2014