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Introduction: Resting heart (pulse) rate (RPR) monitoring may be a useful neurological assessment tool in chiropractic practice. Lower RPR generally reflects a better level of fitness and health status than higher RPR. However, the clinical significance of short-term changes in RPR remains unknown. The purpose of this study was to take an initial step towards understanding the clinical significance of short-term RPR changes, first, by describing short-term RPR changes between duplicated measurements, and second, by comparing RPR changes between groups with lower and higher baseline RPR. Methods: Seventy-three healthy adult volunteers received an RPR measurement on two days within a 1-week period. The mean difference between the two measurements (RPR change) in patients with lower versus higher baseline RPR was compared. Results: Mean RPR change in the low baseline group was -0.3 BPM (95% confidence interval [CI] = -2.7 to 2.1 BPM) whereas in the high baseline group, it was +4.4 BPM (95% CI = 1.2 to 7.6). This difference between groups was statistically significant (P = 0.02) with a large effect size (Cohen's d = 0.57). Conclusion: In this pilot study, a higher RPR at baseline was associated with increased RPR change, whereas a lower baseline RPR was associated with a stable or reduced RPR change. A future main study with a larger sample size and longer follow-up period is needed to better characterize both the natural variation of RPR over multiple repeated measurements, and the clinical significance of short-term RPR changes in terms of predicting longer-term health outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: One model for neurological assessment in chiropractic pertains to autonomic variability, tested commonly with heart rate variability (HRV). Since HRV may not be convenient to use on all patient visits, more user-friendly methods may help fill-in the gaps. Accordingly, this study tests the association between manual pulse rate and heart rate variability. The manual rates were also compared to the heart rate derived from HRV. Methods: Forty-eight chiropractic students were examined with heart rate variability (SDNN and mean heart rate) and two manual radial pulse rate measurements. Inclusion criteria consisted of participants being chiropractic students. Exclusion criteria for 46 of the participants consisted of a body mass index being greater than 30, age greater than 35, and history of: a) dizziness upon standing, b) treatment of psychiatric disorders, and c) diabetes. No exclusion criteria were applied to the remaining two participants who were also convenience sample volunteers. Linear associations between the manual pulse rate methods and the two heart rate variability measures (SDNN and mean heart) were tested with Pearson's correlation and simple linear regression. Results: Moderate strength inverse (expected) correlations were observed between both manual pulse rate methods and SDNN (r = -0.640, 95% CI -0.781, -0.435; r = -0.632, 95% CI -0.776, -0.425). Strong direct (expected) relationships were observed between the manual pulse rate methods and heart rate derived from HRV technology (r = 0.934, 95% CI 0.885, 0.962; r = 0.941, 95% CI 0.897, 0.966). Conclusion: Manual pulse rates may be a useful option for assessing autonomic variability. Furthermore, this study showed a strong relationship between manual pulse rates and heart rate derived from HRV technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]