Comparative Effects of Back School Based Intervention Versus Cranio-Cervical Muscle Training in Computer Users With Cervicogenic Headache

July 7, 2026 updated by: Dr. Hufsa Tariq, Lahore University of Biological and Applied Sciences

Effects of Back School Based Intervention Versus Cranio-Cervical Muscle Training on Pain, Posture and Disability in Computer Users With Cervicogenic Headache

The aim of the study is to compare Back School Based Intervention with Cranio- Cervical muscle training in participants with Cervicogenic headache. The study wants to investigate that which intervention helps to mange pain, improve posture and reduce disability. The study aims to answer the question:

  • How effective is Back School Based intervention on pain, posture and disability in computer users with Cervicogenic headache compared to Cranio-cervical Muscle Training? Participants will
  • Attend the treatment sessions of the group in which they are placed.
  • Take treatment session two times a week for eight weeks.
  • Participants will be asked about their pain and activities throughout the study.

Study Overview

Status

Status

Indicates the current recruitment status or the expanded access status.
Completed

Conditions

Conditions

The disease, disorder, syndrome, illness, or injury that is being studied. On ClinicalTrials.gov, conditions may also include other health-related issues, such as lifespan, quality of life, and health risks.

Intervention / Treatment

Intervention / Treatment

A process or action that is the focus of a clinical study. Interventions include drugs, medical devices, procedures, vaccines, and other products that are either investigational or already available. Interventions can also include noninvasive approaches, such as education or modifying diet and exercise.

Detailed Description

  • Headache is one of the disorder that affects 50% of the population worldwide which have negative impact on the quality of life. Cervicogenic headache is the secondary type of headache in which the pain referred from the cervical spine. Headache aggravates by the neck movement and significant reduced range of motion is noticed among patients.
  • The management of the cervicogenic headache is both pharmacological and non- pharmacological but pharmacological having more side effects.Non pharmacological management includes massage, dry needing, physical therapy exercises, manual therapy and patient education.
  • Cranio-cervical muscle training include cranio-cervical flexion exercises, strengthening, stretching, posture exercises and cervical stabilization exercises. These exercises altogether helps in the strengthening of the neck and shoulder muscles which ultimately correct the cervical impairment which neutralize the posture and decrease the load on the structures of the spine.
  • Back school based exercise program can have both practical and theoretical sessions. In practical part patient is guided to the different strengthening and flexibility exercises with increase resistance in each session. In theoretical part patient education is the main part. Patient is educated about the anatomical and posture related changes in the spine so he/ she can identify and correct them by incorporating in their daily life.

Study Type

Study Type

Describes the nature of a clinical study. Study types include interventional studies (also called clinical trials), observational studies (including patient registries), and expanded access.
Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

Enrollment

The number of participants in a clinical study. The "anticipated" enrollment is the target number of participants that the researchers need for the study.
44

Phase

Phase

The stage of a clinical trial studying a drug or biological product, based on definitions developed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The phase is based on the study's objective, the number of participants, and other characteristics. There are five phases: Early Phase 1 (formerly listed as Phase 0), Phase 1, Phase 2, Phase 3, and Phase 4. Not Applicable is used to describe trials without FDA-defined phases, including trials of devices or behavioral interventions.
  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Contact

Study Contact

The name and contact information for the person who can answer enrollment questions for a clinical study. Each location where the study is being conducted may also have a specific contact, who may be better able to answer those questions.

Study Contact Backup

Study Locations

  • Pakistan
    • Punjab Province
      • Lahore, Punjab Province, Pakistan, 54000
        • Sir Ganga Ram Hospital Lahore

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

The key requirements that people who want to participate in a clinical study must meet or the characteristics they must have. Eligibility criteria consist of both inclusion criteria (which are required for a person to participate in the study) and exclusion criteria (which prevent a person from participating). Types of eligibility criteria include whether a study accepts healthy volunteers, has age or age group requirements, or is limited by sex.

Ages Eligible for Study

  • Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Participants of both gender.
  • Participants aged between 19 to 44 years.
  • Participants having unilateral headache without side shift for>3 months aggravated by neck movement.
  • Participants with pain intensity ≥3 on a visual analog scale (VAS).
  • Participants working on the computer for an average 32 h per week.
  • Participants having positive cervical flexion rotation test (CFRT).
  • Participants having joint tenderness in at least one of the upper three cervical joints with palpation.

Exclusion Criteria:

  • If participants having any history of fractures or previous surgery of the vertebral column, any degenerative and inflammatory arthritis, osteoporosis, dislocations, cervical radiculopathy/myelopathy and any history of whiplash injury.
  • Participants showing any signs of the five 'D's' or three 'N's.

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Treatment
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: Double

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm

Participant Group / Arm

A group or subgroup of participants in a clinical trial that receives a specific intervention/treatment, or no intervention, according to the trial's protocol.
Intervention / Treatment

Intervention / Treatment

A process or action that is the focus of a clinical study. Interventions include drugs, medical devices, procedures, vaccines, and other products that are either investigational or already available. Interventions can also include noninvasive approaches, such as education or modifying diet and exercise.
Experimental: Back School Based Intervention
Other: Back School Based Intervention
  • Patient will receive 2 sessions per week for 8 weeks for a total of 16 sessions. Each session lasted for 35 minutes.
  • Conventional Physical therapy will be provided in which stretching of the tight muscles which include SCM, upper trapezius, levator scapulae, scalene, sub occipitals, pectoralis minor, and pectoralis major. Neck stretches, chin tucks, scapular squeezes, and upper back strengthening exercises with 5 repetitions will be performed. Trigger points of sub occipitals, SCM, and temporalis are released because they cause headache.
  • Back School Based Intervention includes both theoretical and practical part. Patients had total of 16 sessions out of which 14 will be practical one and remaining two will be theoretical one. In theoretical part main focus is on the patient education and guidance. In practical part resistive exercises of increase intensity in each session will be performed in which main focus is on the strengthening
Active Comparator: Cranio- Cervical Muscle Training
Cranio- cervical muscle Training
Other: Cranio-Cervical muscle Training
  • Patient will receive 2 sessions per week for 8 weeks for a total of 16 sessions. Each session lasted for 35 minutes. Conventional physical therapy will be same in both groups
  • Cranio- cervical muscle training session main focus is on the strengthening and posture correction. Cervical flexion, extension and stabilization exercises will be performed which helps to strength muscles and helps to neutralize posture and ultimately disability which is due to headache will be reduced.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Primary Outcome Measures

In a clinical study's protocol, the planned outcome measure that is the most important for evaluating the effect of an intervention/treatment. Most clinical studies have one primary outcome measure, but some have more than one.
Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Visual Analogue scale
Time Frame: It will be measured at baselines, 4 weeks and at 8 weeks.
Visual Analogue Scale is used for the measurement of pain.a hand written mark on 10 cm line helps to differentiate pain in different patients. If Patient reports minimum pain level more than 3 than considered as the patient required for study maximum pain level will be 10
It will be measured at baselines, 4 weeks and at 8 weeks.
Headache Disability Index
Time Frame: It will be measured at baseline, 4 weeks and at 8 weeks.
Headache Disability Index is used to evaluate the impact of headache on person's daily life activities. It consists of 25 questions. Patient answer the question as yes scored as 4, sometimes as 2 or no as 0. The score interpretation for disability is measured and for mild disability it is 10 to 28, for moderate disability is 30 to 48, for severe disability is 50 to 68 and for complete disability 72 or higher is noticed.
It will be measured at baseline, 4 weeks and at 8 weeks.
Plumb Line Assessment of Posture
Time Frame: It will be measured at baseline, 4 weeks and at 8 weeks.
A plumb line is used as reference to measure the abnormality or deviation from posture. It helps to pinpoint those areas of the body which are away from neutral alignment of the body such as rounded shoulder, forward head posture and abnormal tilt of pelvis. Patient reported as deviated or non deviated from neutral posture.
It will be measured at baseline, 4 weeks and at 8 weeks.
Cervical Flexion Rotation Test
Time Frame: It will be measured at baseline, 4 weeks and at 8 weeks.
Cervical flexion rotation test is used to determine the presence of joint dysfunction at the C 1/2 level. The cervical spine is fully flexed to avoid rotational movements then rotated to right and left to find out any pain or restrictions in the joints. Pain provocation and limited rotation indicate the positive test result. Maximum range of rotation will be 45 which is considered as normal. Range less than 45 will need to be corrected.
It will be measured at baseline, 4 weeks and at 8 weeks.

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Sponsor

The organization or person who initiates the study and who has authority and control over the study.
Lahore University of Biological and Applied Sciences

Investigators

Investigators

A researcher involved in a clinical study. Related terms include site principal investigator, site sub-investigator, study chair, study director, and study principal investigator.
  • Principal Investigator: Laiba Azam, Lahore University of Biological and Applied Sciences

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

Study Start

The actual date on which the first participant was enrolled in a clinical study. The "anticipated" study start date is the date that the researchers think will be the study start date.
January 23, 2026

Primary Completion (Actual)

Primary Completion

The date on which the last participant in a clinical study was examined or received an intervention to collect final data for the primary outcome measure. Whether the clinical study ended according to the protocol or was terminated does not affect this date. For clinical studies with more than one primary outcome measure with different completion dates, this term refers to the date on which data collection is completed for all the primary outcome measures. The "anticipated" primary completion date is the date that the researchers think will be the primary completion date for the study.
June 15, 2026

Study Completion (Actual)

Study Completion

The date on which the last participant in a clinical study was examined or received an intervention/treatment to collect final data for the primary outcome measures, secondary outcome measures, and adverse events (that is, the last participant's last visit). The "anticipated" study completion date is the date that the researchers think will be the study completion date.
July 5, 2026

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

First Submitted

The date on which the study sponsor or investigator first submitted a study record to ClinicalTrials.gov. There is typically a delay of a few days between the first submitted date and the record's availability on ClinicalTrials.gov (the first posted date).
December 25, 2025

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

The date on which the study sponsor or investigator first submits a study record that is consistent with National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review criteria. The sponsor or investigator may need to revise and submit a study record one or more times before NLM's QC review criteria are met. It is the responsibility of the sponsor or investigator to ensure that the study record is consistent with the NLM QC review criteria.
December 25, 2025

First Posted (Actual)

First Posted

The date on which the study record was first available on ClinicalTrials.gov after National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review has concluded. There is typically a delay of a few days between the date the study sponsor or investigator submitted the study record and the first posted date.
January 8, 2026

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

Last Update Posted

The most recent date on which changes to a study record were made available on ClinicalTrials.gov. There may be a delay between when the changes were submitted to ClinicalTrials.gov by the study's sponsor or investigator (the last update submitted date) and the last update posted date.
July 8, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

The most recent date on which the study sponsor or investigator submitted changes to a study record that are consistent with National Library of Medicine (NLM) quality control (QC) review criteria. It is the responsibility of the sponsor or investigator to ensure that the study record is consistent with the NLM QC review criteria.
July 7, 2026

Last Verified

Last Verified

The most recent date on which the study sponsor or investigator confirmed the information about a clinical study on ClinicalTrials.gov as accurate and current. If a study with a recruitment status of recruiting; not yet recruiting; or active, not recruiting has not been confirmed within the past 2 years, the study's recruitment status is shown as unknown.
July 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

Other Study ID Numbers

Identifiers or ID numbers other than the NCT number that are assigned to a clinical study by the study's sponsor, funders, or others. These numbers may include unique identifiers from other trial registries and National Institutes of Health grant numbers.
  • UBAS/ERB/FoRS/25/029

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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