Efficacy of Deep Cervical Flexor Muscles Training on Neck Pain, Functional Disability and Muscle Endurance in School Teachers

Neck pain (NP) is a common work related disorder. Teaching is one profession in which its prevalence is high. The Daily job of a school teacher involves head down posture while reading, writing, etc., exposing them to risk of developing NP. Deep cervical flexor (DCF) muscles have been shown to have lower endurance in patients with cervical impairment which has been associated with disability. There is limited evidence that reports efficacy of DCF muscles training in occupational NP. This study was done to see the effect of DCF muscles training using pressure biofeedback on pain, muscle endurance and functional disability in school teachers with NP.

Study Overview

• Status: Completed
• Conditions: Neck Pain
• Intervention / Treatment: Behavioral: DCF muscles training using pressure biofeedback in addition to conventional exercises; Behavioral: conventional exercises

Detailed Description

Neck pain (NP) is a common work related disorder. Teaching is one profession in which its prevalence is high. The Daily job of a school teacher involves head down posture while reading, writing, etc., exposing them to risk of developing NP. Deep cervical flexor (DCF) muscles have been shown to have lower endurance in patients with cervical impairment which has been associated with disability. There is limited evidence that reports efficacy of DCF muscles training in occupational NP. This study was done to see the effect of DCF muscles training using pressure biofeedback on pain, muscle endurance and functional disability in school teachers with NP. 65 teachers, aged between 25 to 45 years with experience of more than 5 years were agreed to participate in this study. Subjects were randomly divided into two groups, experimental (EG) and control group (CG). In EG, subjects received DCF muscles training using pressure biofeedback in addition to conventional exercises for neck pain while in CG subjects received only conventional exercises. Pain, muscle endurance and disability measured at day 0 (before treatment), day 14 and day 42 after treatment. Endurance of DCF muscles was measured by CCF test using pressure biofeedback instrument, Pain intensity was measured using NPRS and Functional disability was assessed using NDI questionnaire.

• Study Type: Interventional
• Enrollment (Actual): 65
• Phase: Not Applicable

Participation Criteria

Eligibility Criteria

• Ages Eligible for Study: 25 years to 45 years (Adult)
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No
• Genders Eligible for Study: All

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

• experience of more than 5 years
• neck pain score of more than 5 on numeric pain rating scale (NPRS), mild to moderate disability score on neck disability index (NDI) and poor cranio-cervical flexion (CCF) test

Exclusion Criteria:

• any neurological sign or symptom, history of spinal surgery or if they were taking any treatment for their pain.

Study Plan

How is the study designed?

Design Details

• Primary Purpose: Treatment
• Allocation: Randomized
• Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
• Masking: None (Open Label)

Number of Arms

2

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm	Intervention / Treatment
Experimental: experimental group	Behavioral: DCF muscles training using pressure biofeedback in addition to conventional exercises; DCF muscles training using pressure biofeedback in addition to conventional exercises
Active Comparator: control group	Behavioral: conventional exercises; conventional exercises

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
Change in Pain at day 42, day 14 after intervention from baseline	Numeric pain rating scale (NPRS): NPRS. Subjects had to rate their pain on the 0-10 rating scale, where 0 means no pain while 10 is the worst possible pain.	at day 0 (before treatment), day 14 and day 42 after treatment
Change in muscle endurance at day 42, day 14 after intervention from baseline	Craniocervical flexion test (CCF) test using pressure biofeedback instrument	at day 0 (before treatment), day 14 and day 42 after treatment

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure	Measure Description	Time Frame
disability	Functional disability was assessed using Neck disability index (NDI) questionnaire. Subjects had to answer the multiple choice questions and their score was interpreted on range from 0 to 50, 0 being no disability and 50 indicating complete disability.	at day 0 (before treatment), day 14 and day 42 after treatment

Collaborators and Investigators

• Sponsor: King Saud University

Publications and helpful links

General Publications

• Iqbal ZA, Alghadir AH, Anwer S. Efficacy of Deep Cervical Flexor Muscle Training on Neck Pain, Functional Disability, and Muscle Endurance in School Teachers: A Clinical Trial. Biomed Res Int. 2021 Jan 13;2021:7190808. doi: 10.1155/2021/7190808. eCollection 2021.

Study record dates

Study Major Dates

• Study Start (Actual): May 21, 2016
• Primary Completion (Actual): January 1, 2017
• Study Completion (Actual): May 1, 2017

Study Registration Dates

• First Submitted: May 13, 2018
• First Submitted That Met QC Criteria: May 24, 2018
• First Posted (Actual): May 25, 2018

Study Record Updates

• Last Update Posted (Actual): May 25, 2018
• Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria: May 24, 2018
• Last Verified: May 1, 2018

More Information

Terms related to this study

• Additional Relevant MeSH Terms: Pain; Neurologic Manifestations; Neck Pain
• Other Study ID Numbers: RRC-2016-009

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

• Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?: Undecided

Drug and device information, study documents

• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product: No
• Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product: No