Therapy at the University of Sevilla and the Madrid Osteopathic School conducted a prospective randomized double-blind controlled trial that investigated the effects of a bilateral global pelvic manipulation (GPM) technique on lumbar pelvic pain and blood catecholamine and serotonin release in patients with clinically diagnosed primary dysmenorrhea. All participants (N=40; mean age, 30 years) had "regular menstrual cycle[s] (28 ± 7 days)" and "menstrual pain of moderate or severe intensity"

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... ined as greater than 50 mm on a 100-mm visual analog scale [VAS]). Women who had any of the following were excluded from the study: (1) an intrauterine device, (2) secondary dysmenorrhea, (3) previous gynecologic interventions, (4) contraindications to the GPM technique, (5) recent previous manipulative therapy, and (6) fear of spinal manipulation. Previous research scores of 4.6 (1.2) before intervention and 1.9 (1.4) after intervention (P<.0005). The mean (SD) reported days of general pain was also significantly reduced in this group (4.5 [1.8] days before intervention to 2.2 [1.8] after intervention; P<.0005), as was reported duration of intense pain (2.2 [1.4] days before intervention to 0.2 [0.6] days after intervention; P<.0005). No changes in these measures were observed for the control group. The physical component score on the SF-36 showed significant improvement for the OMTh group (P<.003) but not for the control group.