Im struggling to get to the bottom of this. Im in contact with two osteopaths and they are both comming up with different explanations for the purpose of HVT. Both techniques experienced were exactly the same
one said osteopathic lumbar HVT are not to increase range of movement at the target joint BUT only to decrease neural stimulation at that joint. The other said its to increase range of movement in a stiff joint?
Would be greatful of an honest reply from someone in the know. Chiro or evne better an Osteo would be great
is there any official documentation on the web that is availiable to public reading on this matter
many thanks
ian
to be honest, I'd say "both" are as true - within the limits of our understanding (or at least, our understanding as of 4 years ago when I graduated).
by "unlocking" the joint, you decrease it's neural loading.
by decreasing the neural loading, you increase its mobility.
The neurology is complex, and was never my strong point; but it's definitely there.
For research, pubmed and medline wil usually only let you have abstracts, and you'll need to be able to talk the language of researchers; or there arae plenty of text books out there, though again, none of the patient-aimed books will go into that level of detail; and again, our understanding is changing annually. In the text books, it'll also be the section here, chapter there, paragraph in the other, and you'd need to be fairly widely read in that specific area to get to the answers you want.
As I said - my knowledge would be out of date by now; but my understanding would be that both are true; and that all therapists use their own explanations of their treatments, in terms of their own understanding, their perception of the patient's understanding, the analogies they like to use, and what they feel most comfortable explaining. If you ask 5 experts (in pretty much any field), and you should expect 6 different answers.
PS, I wouldn't trust any answers you find online - they're more-or-less all biased in one way or another, and generally with an axe to grind.
Hi iant,
I am a second year osteopathy student. Here is my understanding:
HVT obviously takes a joint to the end range of movement. At the end of range we have neural receptors in our joints (specifically type III receptors) which are inhibitory to the agonistic (movement causing) muscle. Thus by stimulating these receptors one causes inhibition of the muscle, causing it to relax and increase range of motion.
Also, movement of any synovial joint (most joints are synovial) causes the secretion of synovial fluid which, amongst other things, is a lubricator of the joint.
Thus it could be argued that both osteo's are correct.. and there are probably a few more theories out there which I have not come across yet...hope this helps.