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Objectives: The objective was to determine the effect of myofascial techniques on the modulation of immunological variables. Design: Thirty-nine healthy male volunteers were randomly assigned to an experimental or control group. Interventions: The experimental group underwent three manual therapy modalities: suboccipital muscle release, so-called fourth intracranial ventricle compression, and deep cervical fascia release. The control group remained in a resting position for the same time period under the same environmental conditions.Outcome Measures: Changes in counts of CD3, CD4, CD8, CD19, and Natural Killer cells (as immunological markers) between baseline and 20 minutes post-intervention. Results: Repeated-measures ANOVA revealed a significant time x groups interaction [F (1, 35)=9.33; p= 0.004] for CD19. There were no significant time x group interaction effects on CD3, CD4, CD8, or Natural Killer cell counts. Intra-subject analyses showed a higher CD19 count in the experimental group post-intervention versus baseline (t=-4.02; p=0.001)], with no changes in the control group (t=0.526; p=0.608). Conclusion: A major immunological modulation, with an increased B lymphocyte count, was observed at 20 minutes after the application of craniocervical myofascial induction techniques.

The objective was to determine the effect of myofascial techniques on the modulation of physiologic and psychologic variables.Forty-one (41) healthy male volunteers were randomly assigned to an experimental or control group.The experimental group underwent 3 manual therapy modalities: suboccipital muscle technique, compression of fourth intracranial ventricle, and deep cervical fascia technique. The control group remained in a resting position for the same time period under the same environmental conditions.Temperature, heart rate, and systolic and diastolic blood pressure (BP) were measured before, during, and after the intervention. State and trait anxiety levels and depression level were evaluated before and after the intervention.Repeated-measures analysis of variance revealed a significant time x groups interaction [F = 4.7(1,40); p = 0.036] for state anxiety. There were no significant time x group interaction effects for depression [F = 0.33(1,40); p = 0.57] or trait anxiety [F = 3.76(1,40), p = 0.060]. Among physiologic parameters, a significant time x group interaction was found for systolic BP [F = 2.86(6,240); p = 0.033] and heart rate [F = 2.89(6,240); p = 0.036].Psychologic modulation is observed after application of manual therapy techniques, with a decrease in state anxiety in the experimental group. Heart rate and systolic BP were modulated during the course of myofascial induction techniques. All of these effects were observed up to 20 minutes after the therapy.