Effects of Lumbar Central Posteroanterior Mobilization on Isometric Knee Extension and Patellar Tendon Reflex Amplitude: A Pilot Study

The main focus of this study was to investigate effects of lumbar central posteroanterior (PA) mobilization on isometric knee extension (IKE) ability and patellar tendon reflex amplitude (PTRA) in healthy university students. University students aged 19-26 (male; 10, female; 10) without any neurological disorders participated voluntarily and excluded the subjects with abnormal reflexes. The participation had an average body mass of 64.25±13.52 kg, an average height of 1.66±0.08m, and an average Body Mass Index (BMI) of 23.07±3.21. Every student was randomly assigned to be received squatting exercise and PA mobilization sequentially with 5 days of wash out period. IKE and PTRA were not significantly different between the two groups after the intervention. All the outcome measures were arranged into two data groups; PA mobilization and squatting exercise data group. In the PA mobilization data group, IKE and PTRA significantly increased after the intervention, however, these aspects were decreased in the squatting exercise group. These findings suggest that IKE and PTRA increase immediately after PA mobilization, therefore PA mobilization could be a valuable topic for controlled clinical trials.