Evaluation of the pressure pain threshold after neural mobilization in individuals with sciatica

Abstract

The aim of this study was to evaluate variations in the duration of neural mobilization techniques in sciatica patients, generating different responses in pressure pain threshold (PPT) on L5 as well as between the second and third metatarsal. A sample of 30 subjects was used and was divided into two groups: CG (n = 15) – healthy volunteers, and SG (n = 15) – sciatica volunteers. The volunteers were then subdivided into four subgroups (A, B, C and D), according to the number of weeks of intervention, as this was a crossover study. Evaluations occurred at two separate intervals: 15 min before and 15 min after interventions were performed with neural mobilization techniques. Mobilizations were carried out at different duration intervals (0, 3, 7 and 15 min), in accordance to the week of treatment over the course of 4 weeks. Within each individual group, no significant differences were noted. In intergroup comparison, a small positive effect for a duration of roughly 3 min on L5 was observed. It was concluded that short-term outcome effects on pain threshold after neural mobilization in individuals with sciatica generate distinct responses in PPT on L5 and between the second and third metatarsal, and 3-min duration intervals of this technique were sufficient to produce moderate benefits in SG. In contrast, treatment durations of 7 min produced worse results between the second and third metatarsal.

Key words::

• Exercise therapy
• pain threshold
• physical therapy modalities

Declaration of interest: The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.