Can manual therapy used in osteopathy improve cardiovascular outcomes, measured as blood pressure reduction? A literature review.
Item
- Title
- Can manual therapy used in osteopathy improve cardiovascular outcomes, measured as blood pressure reduction? A literature review.
- Author(s)
- Potter, D
- Abstract
- Background: Cardiovascular disease is a cause of disability in activities of daily living through its effect on physical functioning. Hypertension (HTN) is a major risk factors for cardiovascular disease, deaths and related morbidities. In the UK Public Health England (PHE) estimate 12.5 million adults have HTN and for every 10 people diagnosed with HTN a further 7 are undiagnosed. Objective: To conduct a structured review of relevant clinical trials published since 2009 to answer the research question: Can MT improve cardiovascular outcomes? Design: Structured literature review. Methods: Google scholar, PEDro, Cochrane library and Science Direct databases searched. A bespoke search strategy was applied to each search engine to increase the relevance of the search. The results were screened, and any duplicate or non-relevant studies were removed. Inclusion / exclusion criteria reflecting the research question were then applied to the remaining studies. Selected studies were assessed for methodological quality using the PEDro scale. Results: Thirteen studies were selected for review as they complied with the inclusion / exclusion criteria. All studies were of fair to high quality on the PEDro scale. Of the thirteen, five indicated a statistically significant reduction in blood pressure (BP), two for systolic BP only, one study showed a statistically significant reduction in BP, this was matched by a BP reduction in the control group, seven showed no significant reduction in BP. Discussion: Massage therapy influences blood pressure over a short timescale, up to 3 days post treatment, studies into massage should be conducted to investigate its long-term efficacy as a treatment. Whole body osteopathic treatment focussed upon the restrictions within the body may prove to be efficacious, however, high-quality research is required to validate this. Conclusion: The findings of MT’s effectiveness on reducing BP supports the use of massage as a treatment for raised BP, the effect of massage on BP was comparable to pharmaceutical monotherapy intervention. The use of spinal manipulative techniques cranial and whole-body osteopathic techniques to reduce blood pressure and improve cardiovascular outcomes cannot currently be validated.
- presented at
- European School of Osteopathy
- Date Accepted
- 2020
- Date Submitted
- 28.10.2020 18:08:19
- Type
- osteo_thesis
- Language
- English
- Submitted by:
- 62
- Pub-Identifier
- 16685
- Inst-Identifier
- 1229
- Keywords
- Hypertension; Manual therapy; Massage; Osteopathy; cardiovascular disease.
- Recommended
- 0
- Item sets
- Thesis
Potter, D, “Can manual therapy used in osteopathy improve cardiovascular outcomes, measured as blood pressure reduction? A literature review.”, Osteopathic Research Web, accessed April 23, 2025, https://library.wso.at/s/orw/item/170