Key Questions From the Conference on the Biology of Manual Therapies
June 9–10, 2005
Natcher Conference Center,
National Institutes of Health,
Bethesda, Maryland
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?
