Dr. Philipp Zunke (e-mail, ResearchGate) of Physiozentrum Salzburg (Austria) is interviewed by Stephen M. Shaffer regarding a publication from BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders titled, “The effect of manual therapy to the thoracic spine on pain-free grip and sympathetic activity in patients with lateral epicondylalgia humeri. A randomized, sample sized planned, placebo-controlled, patient-blinded monocentric trial.” This episode contains information that will be interesting for practitioners who want to gain a further understanding of an axial skeleton treatment that can be useful in the examination and management of extremity disorders.

In addition, four different publications were mentioned during this interview including Heneghan et al 2016 (described the thoracic region as the ‘Cinderella’ region of the spine), Kingston et al 2014 (review of the effects of spinal mobilization on the sympathetic nervous system), Bialosky et al 2018 (model explaining the mechanisms of manual therapy), and Navarro-Santanaet al 2020 (incorrectly referred to as “Marcos” during the interview; both spinal and extremity techniques have a neurophysiological effect). Dr. Zunke also recommends checking out Picchiottino et. al 2019.

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