Exercise as Treatment of Neck Pain Among Helicopter Pilots and Crew Members

December 1, 2015 updated by: Mike Murray, University of Southern Denmark

Physical Exercise Against Neck and Shoulder Pain in Danish Military Helicopter Pilots and Crewmembers - A Clinical Randomized, Controlled Trail

The aim of this project is to investigate, whether physical training, targeted neck and shoulder muscles, can reduce and prevent neck pain among military helicopter pilots and crewmembers.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

Military helicopter pilots and crewmembers is often burdened by work-related neck and shoulder pain. Neck pain is a health challenge, that can reduce functional level, concentration and operational safety. Physical exercise has shown good efficacy in reducing neck/shoulder pain in other occupational groups in previous studies.

The Royal Danish Air Force and the University of Southern Denmark, wishes to examine whether specific physical exercise can prevent and reduce neck/shoulder pain within this occupational group.

Participants in this project will be randomly selected to either a physical exercise group or a reference group.

  • The physical exercise group will follow a training program targeted neck and shoulder muscles and train 1 hour per week (3 x 20 min) for 26 weeks.
  • The reference group will continue normal routines, including workout routines. They will later be offered the same training program as the Physical Exercise group provided that training has a positive effect.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

69

Phase

  • Phase 2

Contacts and Locations

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

Study Locations

  • Denmark
      • Karup, Denmark, 7470
        • Hilicopter Wing Karup

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

Ages Eligible for Study

18 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Genders Eligible for Study

All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Employed within the Royal Danish Air Force
  • Helicopter pilot
  • Crewmember (Flight engineer, Rescue swimmer or Mission System Operator)
  • Flown within the past 6 months

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Grounded at time of inclusion
  • Participated in a training intervention within the past 12 months

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: Basic Science
  • Allocation: Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: Double

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: Physical Exercise Group
Specific Strength Training for the Neck and Shoulder muscles
Behavioral: Specific Strength Training
Specific Strength Training for the Neck and Shoulder Muscles
No Intervention: Reference group
No Specific Strength Training

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Neck and shoulder pain
Time Frame: 6 months
Neck pain will be assessed as self-rated pain on a 10 point scale by questionnaire at baseline and follow-up after 6 months
6 months

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Pressure-Pain-Threshold
Time Frame: 6 months
Pressure-Pain-Threshold will be assessed at baseline and follow-up after 6 months
6 months
Muscle strength and steadiness
Time Frame: 6 months
Muscle strength and steadiness will be quantified by force transducers at baseline and follow-up after 6 months
6 months
Postural stability
Time Frame: 6 months
Postural stability will be assessed at baseline and follow-up after 6 months
6 months

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

University of Southern Denmark

Collaborators

The Royal Danish Air Force

Investigators

  • Study Director: Gisela Sjøgaard, Professor.,, University of Southern Denmark

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Helpful Links

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

November 1, 2013

Primary Completion (Actual)

April 1, 2014

Study Completion (Actual)

April 1, 2014

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

August 16, 2013

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

August 16, 2013

First Posted (Estimate)

August 20, 2013

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Estimate)

December 2, 2015

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

December 1, 2015

Last Verified

December 1, 2015

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • S-20120121

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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