The physiological effects of manual therapy on the human immune system. A literature review.
Item
- Title
- The physiological effects of manual therapy on the human immune system. A literature review.
- Author(s)
- De Tienda, V
- Abstract
- Background Around 26 million people are affected by a long-term condition (LTC) in England. Current conventional medical approaches don’t include a direct enhancement of the immune system. Osteopathy has already been shown to be a possible useful way of improving immunity. However, the mechanisms underlying this enhancement are still poorly understood. Also, the effects of osteopathy on the immune system have never been compared to those of other types of manual therapies. Objective The objective of this literature review is to review studies since 2000 that have reported a change in internal physiological measures of the immune system after osteopathic, chiropractic or massage therapy interventions. Design Structure literature review. Methods PubMed and EBSCOhost were searched for relevant literature. Citation tracking was also used. Studies were scanned following relevant titles and inclusion/exclusion criteria. Data were extracted in a chart and graded using a hierarchy of evidence. Results 20 studies were included. 13 studies represented massage therapy (MT), five studies represented osteopathic manipulative therapy (OMT) and two studies represented chiropractic using spinal manipulative therapy (SMT). 13 out of the 20 studies were reported to be of good quality according to the hierarchy of evidence but all of them had low sample sizes. MT was found to increase natural killer (NK) cell number and lymphocytes, decrease arginine-vasopressin (AVP) levels, increase salivary immunoglobulin A (s-IgA) concentration levels, decrease salivary cortisol, increase salivary chromogranin A (CgA) and increase serum amylase levels. OMT was found to decrease platelet counts, increase salivary IgA (s-IgA) levels, decrease the proportion of the subpopulation of blood dendritic cells and increase levels of interleukin-8 (IL-8), monocyte chemoattractant protein 1 (MCP-1), macrophage inflammatory protein-1 alpha (MIP-1alpha) and granulocyte-colony stimulating factor (G-CSF). SMT was found to decrease pro-inflammatory cytokine secretion and increase interleukin-2 (IL-2) induced immunoglobulin G (IgG) and immunoglobulin M (IgM) levels. Discussion Some effects of the present results on immunity were discussed. The immune response involves complex mechanisms that are not totally understood. Conclusion Osteopathy, chiropractic and manual therapy have different effects on the human immune system. However, these results need to be carefully interpreted. This review was not able to determine which therapy is more efficient at enhancing immunity and further research is needed.
- presented at
- European School of Osteopathy
- Date Accepted
- 2019
- Date Submitted
- 19.11.2019 18:31:06
- Type
- osteo_thesis
- Language
- English
- Submitted by:
- 62
- Pub-Identifier
- 16491
- Inst-Identifier
- 1229
- Keywords
- Immune system, manual therapy, physiological changes, systematic review
- Recommended
- 0
- Item sets
- Thesis
De Tienda, V, “The physiological effects of manual therapy on the human immune system. A literature review.”, Osteopathic Research Web, accessed May 5, 2025, https://www.osteopathicresearch.com/s/orw/item/338