Conference on the Biology of Manual Therapies

Key questions to be addressed during the sessions and breakout groups

• What is the research suggesting manual therapies can impact on the nervous system? Immune system? Endocrine system?
• Within these scientific disciplines, what additional research would add most to our understanding of the biology of manual therapies?
• How do manual therapies impact on the biomechanics of the body?
• What biomechanics underlying the therapies themselves?
• What additional research on biomechanics would add most to our understanding of the biology of manual therapies?
• What type of study designs would facilitate research on the underlying biology of manual therapies?
• What would be the key outcome measures?
• Are there objective measures that are able to capture changes in structure or function hypothesized to underlie these therapies?
• What state-of-the-art methods in neuroscience, immunology, endocrinology, biomechanics and imaging can be applied to studies of the biology of manual therapies?
• What are the three to five most critical research questions (or needs) to help us understand the biology of manual therapies?