Neck pain is a prevalent global malady. Physiotherapists apply joint mobilization (JM) as a routine, pragmatic procedure for neck pain. Perhaps because JM is widely acknowledged as an effective intervention as concluded by multiple systematic reviews and meta-analyses. Unilateral anterior glide (UPA) is an entry-level variant of JM. And the purported rationale of how pain modulation is attained when employing JM is expounded as a neurophysiologic mechanism. Notwithstanding, the neurophysiologic system that alters pain overlaps with blood pressure (BP) as observed in BP-related hypoalgesia. Therefore, BP is a pertinent and easily quantified variable to examine. Nonetheless, there is scant evidence on the cardiovascular response to UPA. Moreover, it is unsettled whether JM produces sympatho -excitatory or -inhibitory reaction as determined by two published reports that employed central anterior glide (CPA) and unilateral posterior pressures (AP), respectively.
Yung, E., Wong, M., Ali, M.I., Smith, T., Barton, E., Peterson, K., ... Sullivan, A. (2016). A randomized, placebo-controlled, cardiovascular response comparison of unilateral posterior-to-anteriorly directed mobilization of the neck in pain-free adults. Manual Therapy, 25, e135. doi:10.1016/j.math.2016.05.255