Glucose Metabolic Changes in the Brain and Muscles of Patients with Nonspecific Neck Pain Treated by Spinal Manipulation Therapy: A [¹⁸F]FDG PET Study

Figure 2

Diagram of the study protocol. Half of the subjects were randomly assigned to be scanned first in the resting condition and then in the treatment condition; the other half were scanned in the reverse order. The intensity of subjective pain was evaluated before and after spinal manipulation therapy only in the treatment condition. Muscle stiffness and salivary amylase were measured before and after the treatment or resting period. MT = muscle tension, VAS = visual analog scale.