Imran Khan Niazi

New Zealand College of Chiropractic · Centre for Chiropractic Research

Despite most episodes of low back pain (LBP) being short-lasting, some transition into persistent long-lasting problems. Hence, the need for a deeper understanding of the physiological mechanisms of this is pertinent. Therefore, the aims of the present study are (1) to map pain-induced changes in brain activity and blood gene expression associated...

Introduction Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is a stage between health and dementia, with various symptoms including memory, language, and visuospatial impairment. Chiropractic, a manual therapy that seeks to improve the function of the body and spine, has been shown to affect sensorimotor processing, multimodal sensory processing, and mental proce...

Background: The use of diagnostic imaging in low back pain (LBP) management is often inappropriate, despite recommendations from clinical practice guidelines. There is a limited understanding of factors that influence the imaging clinical decision‐making (CDM) process. Aim: Explore the literature on factors influencing imaging CDM for people with L...

Background Measures of hemiparetic ankle dorsiflexor muscle strength and rate of force development (RFD) are often used to determine the efficacy of rehabilitation interventions after stroke. However, evidence supporting the reliability of these measures is limited. This brief report provides a secondary analysis investigating the between-session r...

Background Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a neurobiological disorder characterized by inattention, hyperactivity, and impulsivity. We hypothesized that chiropractic adjustments could improve these symptoms by enhancing prefrontal cortex function. This pilot study aimed to explore the feasibility and efficacy of 4 weeks of chirop...

Objectives: In this study, we explored the effects of chiropractic spinal adjustments on resting-state electroencephalography (EEG) recordings and early somatosensory evoked potentials (SEPs) in Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease. Methods: In this randomized cross-over study, 14 adults with Alzheimer's disease (average age 67 ± 6 years, 2 femal...

With the astounding ability to capture a wealth of brain signals, Brain–Computer Interfaces (BCIs) have the potential to revolutionize humans’ quality of life [...]

Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) is the primary stage of acute Alzheimer's disease, and early detection is crucial for the person and those around him. It is difficult to recognize since this mild stage does not have clear clinical signs, and its symptoms are between normal aging and severe dementia. Here, we propose a tensor decomposition-based sch...

Deep neural networks (DNNs) have demonstrated higher performance results when compared to traditional approaches for implementing robust myoelectric control (MEC) systems. However, the delay induced by optimising a MEC remains a concern for real-time applications. As a result, an optimised DNN architecture based on fine-tuned hyperparameters is req...

Increasing evidence suggests that a high-velocity, low-amplitude (HVLA) thrust directed at a dysfunctional vertebral segment in people with subclinical spinal pain alters various neurophysiological measures, including somatosensory evoked potentials (SEPs). We hypothesized that an HVLA thrust applied to a clinician chosen vertebral segment based on...

Introduction: The pathophysiology of spinal cord injury (SCI) is still not completely understood. Current SCI rehabilitation strategies remain ineffective. Focal muscle vibrations (FMVs), through afferent nerve stimulation, modulate peripheral and central pathways and have potential as a complementary and easy to administer rehabilitation tool in t...

Smartphone applications (apps) that utilize embedded inertial sensors have the potential to provide valid and reliable estimations of different balance and gait parameters in older adults with mild balance impairment. This study aimed to assess the reliability, validity, and sensitivity of the Gait&Balance smartphone application (G&B App) for measu...

Dehydration is a common problem among older adults. It can seriously affect their health and wellbeing and sometimes leads to death, given the diminution of thirst sensation as we age. It is, therefore, essential to keep older adults properly hydrated by monitoring their fluid intake and estimating how much they drink. This paper aims to investigat...

Walking, explicitly known as gait, is a basic activity of daily living and involves coordinated neuromuscular mechanisms. The coordination of lower extremities is reflected in a symmetric gait. The asymmetry may result from disorders affecting motor cortex. Besides, physical and psychological factors such as body weight, age, depression, and anxiet...

Introduction: The EMG filling factor is an index to quantify the degree to which an EMG signal has been filled. Here, we tested the validity of such index to analyse the EMG filling process as contraction force was slowly increased. Methods: Surface EMG signals were recorded from the quadriceps muscles of healthy subjects as force was gradually...

Surface Electromyography (sEMG) is a technique for measuring muscle activity by recording electrical signals from the surface of the body. It is widely used in fields such as medical diagnosis, human–computer interaction, and sports injury rehabilitation. The detection of the onset and offset of muscle activation is a longstanding challenge in sEMG...

Non-specific low back pain (NSLBP) is a significant and pervasive public health issue in contemporary society. Despite the widespread prevalence of NSLBP, our understanding of its underlying causes, as well as our capacity to provide effective treatments, remains limited due to the high diversity in the population that does not respond to generic t...

BACKGROUND Rehabilitation technologies for people with stroke are rapidly evolving. These technologies have the potential to support higher volumes of rehabilitation to improve outcomes for people with stroke. Despite their increasing efficacy, there is a lack of uptake and sustained use of rehabilitation technologies in stroke rehabilitation. Poor...

Background Rehabilitation technologies for people with stroke are rapidly evolving. These technologies have the potential to support higher volumes of rehabilitation to improve outcomes for people with stroke. Despite growing evidence of their efficacy, there is a lack of uptake and sustained use in stroke rehabilitation and a call for user-centere...

Introduction: Most New Zealanders experience low back pain at least once throughout their lifetime and many seek help from the large range of health providers in primary care. Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC) fund a significant proportion of those claims, but which services are they funding and what are the costs? Method: This was a retrosp...

Objective Noisy galvanic vestibular stimulation (nGVS) has been used to facilitate vestibular function and improve gait and balance in people with poor postural control. The aim of this scoping review is to collate, summarize and report on the nGVS parameters that have been used to augment postural control. Method A systematic scoping review was c...

Rehabilitation of patients with neurological disorders is a lifelong process accomplished through pharmacological and non-pharmacological procedures for patient management. One non-pharmacological treatment that has become increasingly popular in the last decade is brain stimulation using vibrations. This study analyzes the impact of vibrations on...

Background: Measures of hemiparetic ankle dorsiflexor muscle strength and rate of force development (RFD) are often used to determine the efficacy of rehabilitation interventions after stroke. However, evidence supporting the reliability of these measures is limited. This brief report provides a secondary analysis investigating the between-session...

The execution or imagination of a movement is reflected by a cortical potential that can be recorded by electroencephalography (EEG) as Movement-Related Cortical Potentials (MRCPs). The identification of MRCP from a single trial is a challenging possibility to get a natural control of a Brain–Computer Interface (BCI). We propose a novel method for...

Background: The contingent negative variation (CNV) is a negative shift in electroencephalography (EEG) related to the planning and execution of an externally cued movement task. The CNV has the potential to be applied within stroke rehabilitation; however, there is insufficient knowledge about the CNV characteristics under movement conditions rele...

Sympatico-vagal balance is essential for regulating cardiac electrophysiology and plays an important role in arrhythmogenic conditions. Various noninvasive methods, including electro-cardiography (ECG), have been used for clinical assessment of the sympatico-vagal balance. This study aimed to use a custom-designed wearable device to record ECG and...

This study examined the incidence and severity of adverse events (AEs) of patients receiving chiropractic spinal manipulative therapy (SMT), with the hypothesis that < 1 per 100,000 SMT sessions results in a grade ≥ 3 (severe) AE. A secondary objective was to examine independent predictors of grade ≥ 3 AEs. We identified patients with SMT-related A...

Electronic medical records (EMRs) help in identifying disease archetypes and progression. A very important part of EMRs is the presence of time domain data because these help with identifying trends and monitoring changes through time. Most time-series data come from wearable devices monitoring real-time health trends. This review focuses on the ti...

Certain blood biomarkers are associated with neural protection and neural plasticity in healthy people and individuals with prior brain injury. To date, no studies have evaluated the effects chiropractic care on serum brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), insulin-like growth factor -II (IGF-II) and glial cell-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF)...

Prostheses control using electromyography signals have shown promising aspects in various fields including rehabilitation sciences and assistive technology controlled devices. Pattern recognition and machine learning methods have been observed to play a significant role in evaluating features and classifying different limb motions for enhanced pros...

Background: The Gait&Balance (G&B) App has produced valid and reliable measures of gait and balance in young healthy adults but has not been tested in older adults. Research question: In healthy middle-to-older aged adults, are G&B App measurements sensitive to age, valid against clinical and kinematic measures, and reliable? Method: Healthy par...

Balance disorders are caused by several factors related to functionality deficits in one or multiple sensory systems such as vision, vestibular, and somatosensory systems. Patients usually have difficulty explaining their dizziness, often using ambiguous words to describe their symptoms. A common practice by clinicians is to objectively evaluate th...

Abstract Background The core intrinsic connectivity networks (core-ICNs), encompassing the default-mode network (DMN), salience network (SN) and central executive network (CEN), have been shown to be dysfunctional in individuals with internalizing disorders (IDs, e.g. major depressive disorder, MDD; generalized anxiety disorder, GAD; social anxiety...

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Objective: We propose a novel cue-based asynchronous brain-computer interface(BCI) for neuromodulation via the pairing of endogenous motor cortical activity with the activation of somatosensory pathways. Methods: The proposed BCI detects the intention to move from single-trial EEG signals in real time, but, contrary to classic asynchronous-BCI s...

To design a prosthetic hand which can classify movements based on the electromyography (EMG) signals, complete and good quality signals are essential. However, due to different reasons such as disconnection of electrodes or muscles fatigue the recorded EMG data can be incomplete, which degrades the classification of test movements. In this paper, w...

In a computer-aided diagnostic (CAD) system for skin lesion segmentation, variations in shape and size of the skin lesion makes the segmentation task more challenging. Lesion segmentation is an initial step in CAD schemes as it leads to low error rates in quantification of the structure, boundary, and scale of the skin lesion. Subjective clinical a...

To investigate the optimal filter settings for pre-processing of Movement Related Cortical Potentials (MRCP) for the detection through EEG in single trial, we have proposed a novel Non-Linear Optimized Spatial Filter (NL-SF) and compared it to the Optimized Spatial Filtering (OSF) used in literature. MRCPs from EEG recordings are emphasized, calcul...

Brain-computer interface performance may be reduced over time, but adapting the classifier could reduce this problem. Error-related potentials (ErrPs) could label data for continuous adaptation. However, this has scarcely been investigated in populations with severe motor impairments. The aim of this study was to detect ErrPs from single-trial EEG...

Recently it has been acknowledged that the basal ganglia nuclei play a major role in cognitive control; however, the contribution by their network remains unclear. Previous studies have demonstrated the role of the subthalamic nucleus (STN) in cognitive processing and suggested that its connections to cortical and other associated regions regulate...

This study aimed to investigate the effects of a single session of chiropractic spinal adjustment on the cortical drive to the lower limb in chronic stroke patients. In a single-blinded, randomized controlled parallel design study, 29 individuals with chronic stroke and motor weakness in a lower limb were randomly divided to receive either chiropra...

Stroke has been one of the leading causes of disability worldwide and is still a social health issue. Keeping in view the importance of physical rehabilitation of stroke patients, an analytical review has been compiled in which different therapies have been reviewed for their effectiveness, such as functional electric stimulation (FES), noninvasive...

Airflow through the left-and-right nostrils is said to be entrained by an endogenous nasal cycle paced by both poles of the hypothalamus. Yogic practices suggest, and scientific evidence demonstrates, that right-nostril breathing is involved with relatively higher sympathetic activity (arousal states), while left-nostril breathing is associated wit...

Upper limb myoelectric prosthetic control is an essential topic in the field of rehabilitation. The technique controls prostheses using surface electromyogram (sEMG) and intramuscular EMG (iEMG) signals. EMG signals are extensively used in controlling prosthetic upper and lower limbs, virtual reality entertainment, and human-machine interface (HMI)...

Brain-Computer Interfaces have been proposed for stroke rehabilitation, but a potential problem with this technology is the dependence of high-quality brain signals. The aim of this study was to investigate if attempted hand open motions can be detected from the muscle activity instead. Ten stroke patients performed 63 ± 7 attempted movements while...

This study aimed to investigate the effects of a single session of chiropractic spinal adjustment on the cortical drive to the lower limb in chronic stroke patients. In a single-blinded, randomized controlled parallel design study, twenty-nine individuals with chronic stroke and motor weakness in a lower limb were randomly divided to receive either...

Advances in technology provide an opportunity to enhance the accuracy of gait and balance assessment, improving the diagnosis and rehabilitation processes for people with acute or chronic health conditions. This study investigated the validity and reliability of a smartphone-based application to measure postural stability and spatiotemporal aspects...

In this work we applied real-time classification of prosthetic fingers movements using surface electromyography (sEMG) data. We employed support vector machine (SVM) for classification of fingers movements. SVM has some benefits over other classification techniques e.g. 1) it avoids overfitting, 2) handles nonlinear data efficiently and 3) it is st...

The utilization of surface EMG and intramuscular EMG signals has been observed to create significant improvement in pattern recognition approaches and myoelectric control. However, there is less data of different arm positions and hand postures available. Hand postures and arm positions tend to affect the combination of surface and intramuscular EM...

Purpose There is growing evidence that vertebral column function and dysfunction play a vital role in neuromuscular control. This invited review summarises the evidence about how vertebral column dysfunction, known as a central segmental motor control (CSMC) problem, alters neuromuscular function and how spinal adjustments (high-velocity, low-ampli...

The movement-related cortical potential (MRCP) is a brain signal that can be recorded using surface electroencephalography (EEG) and represents the cortical processes involved in movement preparation. The MRCP has been widely researched in simple, single-joint movements, however, these movements often lack ecological validity. Ecological validity r...

Error-related potentials (ErrPs) have been proposed as a means for improving brain–computer interface (BCI) performance by either correcting an incorrect action performed by the BCI or label data for continuous adaptation of the BCI to improve the performance. The latter approach could be relevant within stroke rehabilitation where BCI calibration...

This study aimed to validate the efficacy of single-task event-related potential (ERP) measures of cognitive workload to be implemented in exergame-based rehabilitation. Twenty-four healthy participants took part in a novel gamified balance task where task-irrelevant auditory tones were presented in the background to generate ERPs in the participan...

The current COVID-19 pandemic has necessitated the need to find healthcare solutions that boost or support immunity. There is some evidence that high-velocity, low-amplitude (HVLA) controlled vertebral thrusts have the potential to modulate immune mediators. However, the mechanisms of the link between HVLA controlled vertebral thrusts and neuroimmu...

Chiropractic spinal adjustments have been shown to result in short-term increases in muscle strength in chronic stroke patients, however, the effect of longer-term chiropractic spinal adjustments on people with chronic stroke is unknown. This exploratory study assessed whether 4 weeks of chiropractic spinal adjustments, combined with physical thera...

Recently it has been acknowledged that the basal ganglia nuclei play a major role in cognitive control; however, the contribution by their network remains unclear. Previous studies have demonstrated the role of the subthalamic nucleus (STN) in cognitive processing and suggested that its connections to cortical and other associated regions regulate...

Stroke is a cerebrovascular disease (CVD), which results in hemiplegia, paralysis, or death. Conventionally, a stroke patient requires prolonged sessions with physical therapists for the recovery of motor function. Various home-based rehabilitative devices are also available for upper limbs and require minimal or no assistance from a physiotherapis...

Advances in our understanding of neural plasticity have prompted the emergence of neuromodulatory interventions, which modulate corticomotor excitability (CME) and hold potential for accelerating stroke recovery. Endogenous paired associative stimulation (ePAS) involves the repeated pairing of a single pulse of peripheral electrical stimulation (PE...

Voluntary activation (VA) is measured by applying supramaximal electrical stimulation to a muscle during a maximal voluntary contraction (MVC). The amplitude of the evoked muscle twitch is used to determine any VA deficit, and indicates incomplete central neural drive to the motor units. People with stroke experience VA deficits and greater levels...

Background: The core intrinsic connectivity networks (ICNs), encompassing the default-mode network (DMN), salience network (SN) and central executive network (CEN), have been shown to be dysfunctional in individual’s with internalizing disorders (IDs; e.g. major depressive disorder, MDD; generalized anxiety disorder, GAD; social anxiety disorder, S...

Over recent years, a growing body of research has highlighted the neural plastic effects of spinal manipulation on the central nervous system. Recently, it has been shown that spinal manipulation improved outcomes, such as maximum voluntary force and limb joint position sense, reflecting improved sensorimotor integration and processing. This study...

There is growing evidence showing that spinal manipulation increases muscle strength in healthy individuals as well as in people with some musculoskeletal and neurological disorders. However, the underlying mechanism by which spinal manipulation changes muscle strength is less clear. This study aimed to assess the effects of a single spinal manipul...

Objective: Intramuscular electromyography (iEMG) signals, non-invasively recorded, directly from the muscles are used to diagnose various neuromuscular disorders/diseases, also to control rehabilitative and assistive robotic devices. iEMG signals are being potentially used in neurology, kinesiology, rehabilitation, and ergonomics, to detect/diagno...

Brain-and muscle-triggered exoskeletons have been proposed as a means for motor training after a stroke. With the possibility of performing different movement types with an exoskeleton, it is possible to introduce task variability in training. It is difficult to decode different movement types simultaneously from brain activity, but it may be possi...

The present study examined the utility of a single-task paradigm to evaluate cognitive workload. The cognitive workload from twenty-five healthy participants was measured during a tilt-ball game while tones were presented in the background to generate event-related potentials (ERPs) in electroencephalographic (EEG) data. In the game, participants w...

Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is becoming a serious problem for developing countries as the lifespan of populations increases. Exercise is known to be clinically beneficial for MCI patients. Somatosensory-evoked potentials (SEPs) may be a potential diagnostic and prognostic marker for this population. The objective of this study was to determine...

Stroke impairments often present as cognitive and motor deficits, leading to a decline in quality of life. Recovery strategy and mechanisms, such as neuroplasticity, are important factors, as these can help improve the effectiveness of rehabilitation. The present study investigated chiropractic spinal manipulation (SM) and its effects on resting-st...

Gait is the locomotion attained through the movement of limbs and gait analysis examines the patterns (normal/abnormal) depending on the gait cycle. It contributes to the development of various applications in the medical, security, sports, and fitness domains to improve the overall outcome. Among many available technologies, two emerging technolog...

Rehabilitative mobility aids are being used extensively for physically impaired people. Efforts are being made to develop human machine interfaces (HMIs), manipulating the biosignals to better control the electromechanical mobility aids, especially the wheelchairs. Creating precise control commands such as move forward, left, right, backward and st...

Error-related potentials (ErrPs) have been proposed for designing adaptive brain-computer interfaces (BCIs). Therefore, ErrPs must be decoded. The aim of this study was to evaluate ErrP decoding using combinations of different feature types and classifiers in BCI paradigms involving motor execution (ME) and imagination (MI). Fifteen healthy subject...

Objective. Human-computer interfaces (HCI) are potential tools for assisting (movement replacement) and rehabilitating (movement restoration) individuals with spinal cord injury (SCI). HCIs based on electroencephalography (EEG) have limited accuracy and hence control options; this could be improved by exploiting potential residual muscle activity (...

Abstract This review appraises electroencephalograph (EEG) approaches to cognitive workload evaluation, focussing on the measurement of event-related potentials (ERPs) in single task paradigms. A systematic search was undertaken, studies were included if they used a single task paradigm with an auditory stimulus combined with ERP measures from EEG...

Study Objectives: The primary objective of this study was to investigate the effects of 4 weeks of spinal manipulation plus physical therapy, compared to physical therapy , on motor function in chronic stroke patients. Methods and material: This pragmatic parallel-group randomised controlled trial was conducted in a hospital setting in Rawalpindi,...

Surface electromyography (sEMG) is the process of recording muscle electrical signals using electrodes placed on the skin. This technique has a wide range of applications. An example which immediately come to mind is the study of the sequence in which different muscles are activated in a particular task such as walking. Identification of the precis...