Motor training and cervical spine manipulation: effects on sensorimotor integration

Altered afferent input resulting from neck joint dysfunction has become a growing area of study. Cervical spine manipulation, specifically in individuals with subclinical neck pain (SNCP); induces neurological changes, suggesting it has a positive neuromodulatory effect on brain processing. The effects of manipulation on motor learning in individuals with SCNP have not been investigated until now. Studies in this thesis sought to develop and investigate a novel motor training task to be coupled with cervical spine manipulation to investigate its effects on individual’s ability to process new task information. The studies revealed significant changes in neural activity specific to the cerebellum and sensorimotor integration following a complex motor training task as compared to a simple repetitive task, suggesting that those specific regions are involved in processing of more complex motor skill learning tasks. This novel task was then coupled with manipulation which revealed significant activation increases in cortical and decreases in subcortical brain regions following manipulation. Regions specific to sensorimotor integration (SMI) showed increased activation in both the manipulation and passive head movement control groups, corroborating with the results from the first study. The use of a complex motor training task is a useful tool for determining intervention effects on neural processing in individuals with SCNP.

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Health Sciences (MHSc)

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Kinesiology

Grantor

University of Ontario Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2012

Author dc:creator

• Bosse, Jessica

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Murphy, Bernadette

• Sensorimotor integration
• Cerebellum
• Motor learning
• Subclinical neck pain
• Somatosensory evoked potentials

Language dc:language.iso

en

Handle dc:identifier.uri

https://hdl.handle.net/10155/265

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:ontariotechu.scholaris.ca:10155/265