Efficacy of Endurance Exercise on Pain and Disability in Chronic Neck Pain-A Systematic Review

Abstract

Introduction: Due to the prevalence of chronic neck pain, the international attention, in recent years, has increased to evaluate the efficacy of therapeutic exercise in the management. The course of neck pain is often characterised by exacerbations, a reduced range of motion of the cervical spine, development of chronic symptoms of pain for more than six months and weak neck-muscles. They are more common among women than men and they are related to functional limitations, disabilities and impairments. But the evidence in support of many of the standard treatment approaches in the management of neck pain is lacking. Aim: This systematic review aimed at analysing the literature systematically and to discuss the quality of evidence of endurance exercise in reducing pain and disabilities. Also it may help in improving the Quality of Life in subjects with chronic neck pain. Materials and Methods: Records were identified by searching multiple literature data bases, including MEDLINE, BIOMED CENTRAL, EMBASE, ACRM, Europa Medicophysica, BMJ, PEDro, Cochrane central register of controlled trials (CENTRAL), American Physical Therapy Association, Medicine and Science in sports and exercise. Additional records were searched through other sources to complement the database finding, relevant literature reviews and indexes of peer-reviewed journals were used. All published Randomised Controlled Trials (RCTs) without any restriction regarding time of publication, co-interventions, sample size and gender were referred. Study participants had to be symptomatic adults with chronic non-specific neck pain, chronic neck pain, whiplash injuries and the articles published in english. Results: In this systematic review, the literature search initially resulted in 250 RCTs among which 23 studies fulfilled the criteria and were finally included in the review. Almost all the studies showed that there was a significant difference between the endurance training group and the other intervention group in improving the neck functional abilities and in reducing the neck pain. Conclusion: In majority of the studies, the endurance exercises succeeded in reducing neck pain and in improving functional abilities of the chronic neck pain patients. The intensities and repetitions of the exercises should depend on progressive resistance given to the muscle. The endurance exercises were found to be promising when compared to control group; however, it yielded a less significant reduction in pain and improvement in functional abilities of neck when compared to the other strengthening exercises group.

Keywords

• musculoskeletal disorder
• pedro score
• therapeutic exercises
• whiplash injuries