Efficacy of corrective exercise intervention on forward head angle, pain and timing of superficial neck muscles activation during posterior- anterior perturbation in women with chronic neck pain

Abstract

Background: Poor posture has been implicated in the development and perpetuation of chronic neck pain symptoms. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of six weeks corrective exercise on forward head angle, pain and timing of superficial neck muscles activation during posterior-anterior perturbation in women with chronic neck pain. Methods: 26 women with chronic neck pain and neck movement control impairment was selected for this quasi experimental study via simple noprobable sampling and divided into two corrective exercise (n=13) and control (n=13) groups. Forward head angle, pain and disability and timing of neck superficial muscles activation measured by using the photogrammetry, neck disability index and surface electromyography respectively in pre-test and post-test. Dropping the weight equal to 10% of total body weight, performed using electrical magnet, followed by pulling of the trunk inducing perturbation was performed. Kolmogrove smirnove, paired and sample t tests were used for statistical data analysis (α≥0.05). Results: The significant decrement in electromyographic responses of neck superficial muscles of upper trapezius (right P=0.001; left P=0.014), cervical erector spinea (right P=0.010; left P=0.001), sternocleidomastoid (right P=0.040; left P=0.003), neck pain and disability (P=0.003) and forward head angle (P=0.001) were found after six weeks of corrective exercise. Conclusion: The corrective exercise intervention was successful at decreasing forward head angle, pain and disability and timing of muscle activation in subjects with chronic neck pain. Considering the extremely large effect size of the corrective exercise group, we recommend that this program be used in the correction of subjects with chronic neck pain in future.