Effect of Electrical Stimulation on Forward Head Posture

December 18, 2024 updated by: yosra mostafa mohamed ali, Cairo University

Effect of Electrical Stimulation on Painful Forward Head and Protracted Shoulder Posture in Adolescents

The study aims are:

  1. To investigate the effect of electrical stimulation (interferential current) on forward head posture and protracted shoulder in adolescents.
  2. To investigate the effect of electrical stimulation on cervical pain, cervical ROM, neck muscle strength, and quality of life in adolescents with forward head posture and protracted shoulder.

Study Overview

Status

Not yet recruiting

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

Forward head posture (FHP) is commonly defined as the protrusion of the head in the sagittal plane so that the head is placed anterior to the trunk. It can occur because of anterior translation of the head, and it is claimed to be associated with an increase in upper cervical extension, lower cervical flexion, or both.

Patients with FHP often experience neck pain and disability, it is associated with shortening of the upper trapezius, the posterior cervical extensor muscles, the sternocleidomastoid muscle, and levator scapulae muscle. Thus, FHP may contribute to neck and shoulder pain.

The prolonged uses of mobile phones and computers have led to a variety of musculoskeletal disorders, especially related to the neck as: Forward Head Posture (FHP), rounded shoulders (RS), upper cross syndrome, mechanical neck pain etc. FHP is one in which the upper cervical convexity is increased and the lower cervical convexity is decreased causing anterior weight bearing of the cervical spine. It is also known as Scholar's neck or Reading neck.

Electrical muscle stimulation (EMS) has been used as a complementary training method, applied either locally or to the whole body. It activates muscles artificially through various electrical current forms, which are delivered through electrodes on the target muscles.

Interferential current (IFC) is an established therapy which is used to treat pain and also effective for providing relaxation of muscles. The application of IFC at the medium frequency which suggests higher penetration of the electrical stimulation in the tissue by reducing tissue impedance

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Estimated)

40

Phase

  • 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 Backup

Study Locations

  • Egypt
    • Giza
      • Dokki, Giza, Egypt
        • Faculty of Physical Therapy
        • Contact:
          • faculty of physical therapy CU Cairo university
          • Phone Number: +2037617691
          • Email: info@pt.cu.edu.eg

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

  • Child
  • Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Girls aged between (15-18) years old.
  • Normal weight with BMI ranging from (16-25).
  • Adolescents with mild and moderate forward head posture(FHP).
  • Adolescents with mild and moderate neck pain.
  • Adolescents with protracted shoulder.

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Cervical disc.
  • Previous Shoulder trauma within last 6months.
  • Shoulder surgery.
  • Cervical fracture.
  • Congenital posture deformity.
  • Inflammatory disease, spinal tumor, spinal compression, spinal cord infection.
  • Taking any medication for pain

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: Single

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Active Comparator: intervention group
study group (interferential current )
Device: electrical muscle stimulation device (EMS gymna)
muscle stimulant device
Other: physical therapy program
neck exercises
Placebo Comparator: physical therapy exercises group
control group (exercise group)
Other: physical therapy program
neck exercises

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
shoulder angle (SA)
Time Frame: From enrollment to the end of treatment at 8 weeks
To measure Shoulder Angle (SA) of rounded shoulder, a line from anterolateral aspect of acromion to C7 will be taken and a horizontal line from anterolateral aspect of acromion , it will be considered as forward shoulder when the angle is 52 degree or less.
From enrollment to the end of treatment at 8 weeks
craniovertebral angle (CVA)
Time Frame: From enrollment to the end of treatment at 8 weeks
To measure Craniovertebral Angle (CVA) of forward head posture, a line from C7 to tragus of the ear will be taken and a horizontal line from C7 (the normal CVA more than 50 degree).
From enrollment to the end of treatment at 8 weeks
head tilt angle (HTA)
Time Frame: From enrollment to the end of treatment at 8 weeks
To measure head tilt angle (HTA) or cranial angle (CA) the angle of the line between the canthus of the eye and horizontal line from the tragus, the head tilt angles is 17.74 ± 4.9 degrees in people with normal head posture.
From enrollment to the end of treatment at 8 weeks
head position angle (HPA)
Time Frame: From enrollment to the end of treatment at 8 weeks
To measure head position angle (HPA) angle between the tragus manubrium line and the line extending from the center point of chin to the tragus, the angle is 38.1 ± 4.9 degrees in people with normal head posture.
From enrollment to the end of treatment at 8 weeks

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Pain sensation
Time Frame: From enrollment to the end of treatment at 8 weeks
pain will be measured by visual analogue scale (VAS) , it is a numeric scale where 0 means no pain and 10 mean maximum pain.
From enrollment to the end of treatment at 8 weeks
cervical range of motion
Time Frame: From enrollment to the end of treatment at 8 weeks
cervical rang of motion will be measured by goniometer, where the normal angles for each movement are Flexion 60 degree , Hyperextension 75 degree, Lateral Flexion 45 degree, Rotation 80 degree.
From enrollment to the end of treatment at 8 weeks
neck muscles strength
Time Frame: From enrollment to the end of treatment at 8 weeks
neck muscles strength will be measured by hand held dynamometer, strength is measured in units of force per unit area. The unit is kilogram (force) per square cm (kg/cm^2)
From enrollment to the end of treatment at 8 weeks

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

Cairo University

Investigators

  • Study Director: asmaa O SAYED, Cairo university

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 (Estimated)

January 1, 2025

Primary Completion (Estimated)

April 1, 2025

Study Completion (Estimated)

May 1, 2025

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

December 9, 2024

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

December 18, 2024

First Posted (Actual)

March 25, 2025

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

March 25, 2025

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

December 18, 2024

Last Verified

December 1, 2024

More Information

Terms related to this study

Keywords

Other Study ID Numbers

  • Forward Head Posture
  • P.T.REC/012/005173 (Registry Identifier: research ethical committee)

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

product manufactured in and exported from the U.S.

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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