Date of Award

2014

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Psychology

Abstract

Context: The Graston Technique (GT) is an instrument-assisted soft tissue mobilization technique based on the concepts of manual therapy, which has been proven to decrease pain and disability in injured subjects. The "light brushing" stroke is proposed to desensitize the treatment area prior to more aggressive stages of the protocol. However, no studies have been conducted to assess the effectiveness of "light brushing" in subjects with chronic pain. Objective: To determine the effect that light brushing stroke has on the central and peripheral pain processing. Design: Experimental cross-sectional Setting: Experimental Pain Research Laboratory at ISU. Participants: 11 participants with Fibromyalgia Syndrome and 8 Healthy Individuals. Interventions: Demographics, medical history and validated questionnaires were gathered at the beginning of the session. Subjects underwent a baseline experimental pain assessment (thermal pain threshold, thermal pain tolerance, and cutaneous sensation). Participants then received a 45-second light brushing treatment over 3 sites. Immediately following treatment, participants underwent a post-test experimental pain assessment. Main Outcome Measures: Thermal pain threshold, tolerance and cutaneous sensation. Results: The interaction terms (treatment*group) were not significant for pain threshold or tolerance, or cutaneous sensation. However, the main effect of treatment was significant at the supraspinatus on the treated side [F(1,17)= 5.6; p= 0.03]. Conclusions: The light brushing GT demonstrated no effect on central pain processing, but did produce changes in the periphery. This technique may be an additional tool clinicians can use to manage pain. Further analysis is needed to assess the chronic efficacy of GT in a larger sample size.

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