Hypoalgesic Effects of Three Different Manual Therapy Techniques on Cervical Spine and Psychological Interaction: Randomized Clinical Trial

Manual therapy (MT) techniques applied over cervical region have over both local (neck) and distant regions (elbow) in both asymptomatic and symptomatic populations. Neurophysiological mechanisms are hypothesized to explain the underlying effects, with effects originating from peripheral mechanisms, spinal cord and supraspinal mechanisms.

There is also an increasing interest in the study of the role of psychological variables in the treatment success in neck pain. Psychological variables, like anxiety catastrophizing or kinesiophobia are related to poor prognosis in the development of pain outcomes and disability in neck pain, being the Fear-Avoidance Model of pain one of the most tested models in this field.