Abstract
Objective: To examine the effect of adding aerobic exercise (AE) to neck-specific exercise treatment for patients with neck pain (NP) to reduce pain and disability. Design: A prospective multicentre randomized controlled trial. Setting: Physiotherapy outpatient clinics. Subjects: Patients with nonspecific NP. Intervention: Patients with NP were randomly assigned to six weeks of neck-specific exercise with and without the addition of AE. Measures: Patients were classified as having a successful or non-successful outcome according to the Global Rating of Change (GROC). Outcome measures included Visual Analogue Scale (VAS), Neck Disability Index (NDI), Fear Avoidance Beliefs Questionnaire (FABQ) and cervicogenic headache. Assessments were performed at six-week, and three- and six-month follow-ups. Results: A total of 139 participants (mean age: 54.6 ± 10.5 years) were recruited (n = 69 AE, n = 70 control). According to GROC, 77.4% of the AE group reported a successful outcome at six months vs. 40% in the control group (P < 0.001). There was a significant reduction in VAS from baseline to six months in the AE vs. control group 6.73 (±1.69) to 1.89 (±1.37) vs. 6.65 (±1.67) to 3.32 (±1.82), respectively (P < 0.001). Significant improvements were also obtained for NDI and FABQ from baseline to six weeks in the AE group: NDI from 16.10 (±4.53) to 7.78 (±4.78) vs. 17.01 (±4.84) to 11.09 (±5.64) in the control group (P = 0.003); FABQ from 33.53 (±9.31) to 20.94 (±841) in the AE vs. 33.45 (±10.20) to 26.83 (±10.79) in the control group (P < 0.001). The AE group also demonstrated significant reduction in cervicogenic headache from baseline to six months (P = 0.003). Conclusion: Adding AE to long-term neck-specific exercises is an effective treatment for reducing NP and headache in patients with NP.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 617-629 |
Number of pages | 13 |
Journal | Clinical Rehabilitation |
Volume | 34 |
Issue number | 5 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - 1 May 2020 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship and/or publication of this article: This study was supported by The National Insurance Institute of Israel, the Israel Physiotherapy Society and the University of Haifa.
Funding Information:
The author(s) would like to thank all the patients who participated in the study, as well as our colleagues from the Clalit Health Services Physical Therapy Outpatient Units of the Northern District, Haifa and the Western Galilee, for their support throughout this study. Clinicaltrial.gov ID number is NCT02451267. The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship and/or publication of this article: This study was supported by The National Insurance Institute of Israel, the Israel Physiotherapy Society and the University of Haifa.
Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2020.
Keywords
- Neck pain
- aerobic exercise
- exercise
- headache
- physical therapy
- Prospective Studies
- Double-Blind Method
- Follow-Up Studies
- Humans
- Middle Aged
- Male
- Treatment Outcome
- Exercise Therapy
- Exercise
- Adult
- Female
- Surveys and Questionnaires
- Aged
- Neck Pain/rehabilitation
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Rehabilitation
- Physical Therapy, Sports Therapy and Rehabilitation