The Biology of Manual Therapies
Recent surveys have shown that many people in the United States and Canada are turning to manual therapies (hands-on CAM practices, such as chiropractic manipulation and massage therapy). It is important for researchers and health care providers to better understand how these therapies affect the body. On June 9-10, NCCAM, along with four NIH institutes and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, sponsored the Conference on the Biology of Manual Therapies. The conference reviewed the science explaining how manual therapies might work and identified questions for further research.
Richard Nahin, Ph.D., M.P.H., NCCAM's Senior Advisor for Scientific Coordination and Outreach, served as chair of the planning committee. He said, "There are promising preliminary studies that suggest ways manual therapies might work. However, the exact mechanisms of action are unknown for any of the treatment effects that can be attributed to manual therapies. Our hope for the conference was to help identify the most promising avenues of research."
Scientific experts from both inside and outside the field presented information on topics ranging from biomechanics to immunology. Key questions included:
- What effects do manual therapies have on the body's nervous system, immune system, and endocrine system?
- How do manual therapies affect the way the body moves and the relationships between muscles, joints, and bones?
- How should future research studies on manual therapies be designed, and what should these studies attempt to measure?
- How can state-of-the-art tools in fields such as medical imaging help researchers learn about the ways the body responds to manual therapies?
Dr. Nahin added, "A testament to the importance of this conference was the number of outstanding scientists who attended, the quality of the presentations, and the openness of discussion in the breakout groups. All of this is leading to an exciting list of recommendations. The cosponsors hope that one or more research initiatives will be developed from this list and lead to groundbreaking discoveries about how manual therapies work."
The conference recommendations will be posted on the NCCAM Web site. For more information on manual therapies, see the NCCAM backgrounder "Manipulative and Body-Based Practices: An Overview."
