None listed
Conditions
Brief summary
Introduction: Mechanical neck pain is one of the most common diseases, which has important implications for both, health and labor sector. Due to the heavy workload, the health authorities argue that its physiotherapy treatment should be performed in a group, rather than in a personalized way, how it has been done so far. The aim of this study is to know which of these two modalities of treatment is the most effective to improve this health problem. Material and Methods: Our study is a randomized and controlled clinical trial, with two groups formed by simple chance, 90 subjects (45 per group) were included: 69 women (76.7%) and 21 men (23.3%) of 20-52 years (mean 39.50 and standard deviation 9.05). Personalized treatment was applied in one group and group treatment in the other one, both during 15 sessions. The following variables were measured at the beginning and the end of the treatment (pre and posttreatment): pain with Visual Analog Scale (VAS) and algometer on trapezius and levator sacapula’s trigger points; cervical joint range with inclinometer; neck disability with Neck Disability Index; and quality of life with SF-12 questionnaire. Data analysis were made by Wilcoxon signed ranks test and U Mann-Whitney test. A significance level of p <0.05 was considered. Results: In personalized treatment group Wilcoxon test showed a significant decrease in pain and disability index and an increase in joint range and quality of life (p> 0.05). Group treatment patients showed significant, but very small (not clinically relevant), differences between pretest and posttest values for all variables (p <0.05). The comparison between the two groups showed significant differences in favor of personalized treatment in all variables (p <0.05) with a high or moderate effect size.
Interventions
Individualized program; program conducted by a qualified physiotherapist during three weeks at 5 sessions a week in a one-on-one consultation for 45 minutes each sesssion.
1.- Surface thermotherapy, infrared for 15 minutes, at a distance of 50 cm from the source of emission.
2.- Therapeutic massage in neck area in the following pattern:
- Surface effleurage for 5 minutes.
- Deep friction for 5 minutes
- Petrissage for 5 minutes
- Surface effleurage for 5 minutes.
3.- Specific/analitic stretchi
Individualized program; program conducted by a qualified physiotherapist during three weeks at 5 sessions a week in a one-on-one consultation for 45 minutes each sesssion. 1.- Surface thermotherapy, infrared for 15 minutes, at a distance of 50 cm from the source of emission. 2.- Therapeutic massage in neck area in the following pattern: - Surface effleurage for 5 minutes. - Deep friction for 5 minutes - Petrissage for 5 minutes - Surface effleurage for 5 minutes. 3.- Specific/analitic stretching in the following pattern on the muscles affected (trapezius, right and left, and levator scapular, right and left) : - First, start stretching slowly and softly. - Second, maintain the stretching - Third, relaxing slowly - Forth, keep the position for 15 seconds.
Sponsors
Research Group CTS-305
Study design
Allocation
Randomised controlled trial
Intervention model
Parallel
Primary purpose
Treatment
Masking
Blinded (masking used) (Outcomes Assessor)
Eligibility
Sex/Gender
All
Age
18 Years to No maximum
Healthy volunteers
No
Inclusion criteria
Patients diagnosed of mechanical neck pain from the Dr. Fleming Public Medical Center, under 7 weeks of evolution (pain with an evolution of less than 7 weeks), with a correct mental stage to understand the requirements of the study and without any pharmacological treatment.
Exclusion criteria
- Neck pain with neurogical and/or discal signs - Ostheoporosis - Inflamatory diseases - Previous neck surgery
Outcome results
None listed