Effect of Body Mind Exercises and Specific Neck Exercises in Chronic Mechanical Neck Pain (BME-SNE)

March 13, 2026 updated by: RAMY GNADY I KOMIR, Cairo University
To investigate the effect of body mind exercise and specific neck exercises in chronic mechanical neck pain on neck pain severity, functional disability, neck flexion range of motion, isometric neck muscle strength and quality of life.

Study Overview

Status

Not yet recruiting

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

Chronic mechanical neck pain is one of the most common musculoskeletal disorders affecting middle-aged and older adults and is associated with pain, reduced cervical mobility, functional disability, and decreased quality of life. Exercise therapy is widely recommended as a first-line conservative treatment for chronic neck pain. Previous studies have shown that both specific neck exercises and general physical activity can reduce pain and improve functional outcomes.

Body-mind exercises, which combine physical movement with focused attention and breathing control, may provide additional benefits by improving both physical and psychological aspects of chronic pain. However, the comparative effectiveness of body-mind exercises and specific neck exercises when combined with conventional physical therapy remains unclear.

The aim of this randomized controlled trial is to investigate the effect of body-mind exercises and specific neck exercises on pain intensity, functional disability, cervical range of motion, isometric neck muscle strength, and quality of life in individuals with chronic mechanical neck pain.

A total of 80 participants aged 50 to 65 years with chronic mechanical neck pain will be recruited and randomly allocated into four groups using a parallel-group design. Group A will receive conventional physical therapy alone. Group B will receive conventional physical therapy combined with body-mind exercises in the form of mindful aerobic treadmill walking. Group C will receive conventional physical therapy combined with specific cervical and scapular stabilization exercises. Group D will receive a combination of conventional physical therapy, body-mind exercises, and specific neck exercises.

All interventions will be performed over a treatment period of six weeks. Outcome measures will include pain intensity measured by the Numeric Pain Rating Scale (NPRS), functional disability assessed by the Neck Disability Index (NDI), cervical range of motion measured using a Cervical Range of Motion (CROM) device, isometric neck muscle strength measured using a handheld dynamometer, and quality of life assessed using the RAND-36 Health Survey. Measurements will be taken before the intervention and after completion of the six-week treatment period.

The results of this study will help determine the most effective exercise approach for improving clinical outcomes in patients with chronic mechanical neck pain and may provide evidence to guide physical therapy practice.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Estimated)

80

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
      • Cairo, Egypt, 12613
        • Faculity of Physical Therapy in Cairo University
        • Contact:
        • Contact:
        • Principal Investigator:
          • RAMY I KOMIR, MSc

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

  • Adult
  • Older Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Adults aged between 50-65 years
  • Diagnosis of chronic mechanical neck pain (pain duration ≥ 3 months)
  • Pain intensity of at least 3/10 on the NPRS

Exclusion Criteria:

  • History of cervical surgery
  • Specific neck conditions (fractures, neoplasm, infection)
  • Pregnancy
  • Severe cardiopulmonary disease or other systemic illness affecting participation

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
Experimental: Group A: Conventional physical therapy group (Control group)
Group A will receive conventional therapy which includes: heat therapy (infrared) for 10 minutes, massage therapy 10 min, stretching of neck (Scalene, SCM, UFT, Levator scapulae) and pectoral muscles 20 min.
Behavioral: Conventional physical therapy group.
conventional therapy which includes: heat therapy (infrared) for 10 minutes, massage therapy 10 min, stretching of neck (Scalene, SCM, UFT, Levator scapulae) and pectoral muscles 20 min.
Experimental: Group B: Body mind exercises group (mindful aerobic exercises)
Group B will receive conventional physical therapy (infrared, massage, and neck stretching) in addition to Body mind exercises (mindful aerobic exercises). The aerobic exercise will be performed at an intensity of at least 60% of maximal oxygen consumption (VO₂ max) to effectively improve cardiorespiratory fitness. The program will include treadmill walking 30 minutes.
Behavioral: Conventional physical therapy group.
conventional therapy which includes: heat therapy (infrared) for 10 minutes, massage therapy 10 min, stretching of neck (Scalene, SCM, UFT, Levator scapulae) and pectoral muscles 20 min.
Behavioral: Body mind exercises group (mindful aerobic exercises)
Group B will receive conventional physical therapy (infrared, massage, and neck stretching) in addition to Body mind exercises (mindful aerobic exercises). The aerobic exercise will be performed at an intensity of at least 60% of maximal oxygen consumption (VO₂ max) to effectively improve cardiorespiratory fitness. The program will include treadmill walking 30 minutes.
Experimental: Group C: specific neck exercise group
Group C will receive conventional therapy in addition to specific neck exercises. Specific exercises will include: cervical and scapular stabilization exercises.
Behavioral: Conventional physical therapy group.
conventional therapy which includes: heat therapy (infrared) for 10 minutes, massage therapy 10 min, stretching of neck (Scalene, SCM, UFT, Levator scapulae) and pectoral muscles 20 min.
Behavioral: specific neck exercise group
Group C will receive conventional therapy in addition to specific neck exercises. Specific exercises will include: cervical and scapular stabilization exercises.
Experimental: Group D : Combined exercise group.
Group D will receive conventional therapy in addition to mindful aerobic exercises, cervical and scapular stabilization.
Behavioral: Conventional physical therapy group.
conventional therapy which includes: heat therapy (infrared) for 10 minutes, massage therapy 10 min, stretching of neck (Scalene, SCM, UFT, Levator scapulae) and pectoral muscles 20 min.
Behavioral: Body mind exercises group (mindful aerobic exercises)
Group B will receive conventional physical therapy (infrared, massage, and neck stretching) in addition to Body mind exercises (mindful aerobic exercises). The aerobic exercise will be performed at an intensity of at least 60% of maximal oxygen consumption (VO₂ max) to effectively improve cardiorespiratory fitness. The program will include treadmill walking 30 minutes.
Behavioral: specific neck exercise group
Group C will receive conventional therapy in addition to specific neck exercises. Specific exercises will include: cervical and scapular stabilization exercises.
Behavioral: Combined exercise group.
Group D will receive conventional therapy in addition to mindful aerobic exercises, cervical and scapular stabilization exercises.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Pain Intensity
Time Frame: (pre-intervention) and after 6 weeks (post-intervention).
Numeric Pain Rating Scale (NPRS, Arabic version) 0-10 scale; validated for Arabic-speaking populations (Alghadir et al., 2016)
(pre-intervention) and after 6 weeks (post-intervention).
Quality of Life Measured by RAND-36 Health Survey
Time Frame: (pre-intervention) and after 6 weeks (post-intervention).
Measures physical, emotional, and social functioning .
(pre-intervention) and after 6 weeks (post-intervention).
Functional Disability
Time Frame: (pre-intervention) and after 6 weeks (post-intervention).
Neck Disability Index (NDI, Arabic version) 10-item questionnaire.
(pre-intervention) and after 6 weeks (post-intervention).
Cervical ROM
Time Frame: (pre-intervention) and after 6 weeks (post-intervention).
CROM device. Measures flexion, extension, lateral flexion, rotation; 3 repetitions per movement (Kiatkulanusorn et al., 2023).
(pre-intervention) and after 6 weeks (post-intervention).
Isometric Neck Strength
Time Frame: (pre-intervention) and after 6 weeks (post-intervention).
Handheld dynamometer (HHD) Flexion (forehead), Extension (occiput), 3 maximal contractions of 5 sec each, average recorded (Ghamkhar et al., 2011)
(pre-intervention) and after 6 weeks (post-intervention).

Collaborators and Investigators

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

Sponsor

Cairo University

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: RAMY I KOMIR, MSc, 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)

March 25, 2026

Primary Completion (Estimated)

March 30, 2026

Study Completion (Estimated)

May 31, 2026

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

February 28, 2026

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

March 13, 2026

First Posted (Actual)

March 17, 2026

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

March 17, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

March 13, 2026

Last Verified

February 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Other Study ID Numbers

  • P.T.REC/012/006226.

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

IPD Plan Description

sensitive patient data.

Study Data/Documents

  1. Study Protocol
    Information identifier: P.T.REC/012/006226
    Information comments: The full study protocol is available upon reasonable request from the Principal Investigator. Requests can be directed to the Faculty of Physical Therapy, Cairo University.

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.

Clinical Trials on Neck Pain Musculoskeletal

Clinical Trials on Conventional physical therapy group.

Search Similar Trials

Sponsors and Collaborators

Medical Conditions

Drug Interventions

CROs by country

CROs in Finland

Conditions

Rare Diseases

Drug Interventions

Dietary Supplements

Sponsor/Collaborators

Locations

Subscribe