Effects of Slump Long Sitting on Peripheral Sudomotor and Vasomotor Function: A Pilot Study

Slump long sitting combined with spinal lateral flexion and costovertebral joint mobilization, or “slump long sitting with sympathetic emphasis” (SLSSE), is purported to be an effective therapeutic technique for the management of sympathetically maintained pain. It is hypothesized that the SLSSE would facilitate a sympathoexcitatory response resulting in an increase in skin conductivity and a decrease in skin temperature. However, the impact of SLSSE on sympathetic activity is poorly understood, and there is no direct evidence that the SLSSE affects sympathetic activity in the lower extremities. The purpose of this study was to assess sympathetically-mediated peripheral sudomotor (sweating) and vasomotor (temperature) activity in the feet of healthy, asymptomatic individuals during SLSSE and long sitting. A convenience sample of 12 healthy young adults was split randomly into control and experimental groups of equal size. Sudomotor and vasomotor activities were quantified during SLSSE (experimental group) and long sitting (control group). Although sample mean skin temperature and conductance changes relative to baseline measurements were greater in the experimental group (-2.14% temperature, 51.0% conductivity) than in the control group (-1.425% temperature, 35.8% conductivity), a two-way mixed ANOVA, with side of body as the within-subject factor, indicated no main effects. Nevertheless, trends in these data – one of which would likely have been supported statistically with a slightly larger sample size - should be encouraging to manual therapists and researchers.