Effect of 12-Week Neck, Core, and Combined Stabilization Exercises on the Pain and Disability of Elderly Patients With Chronic Non-specific Neck Pain: A Clinical Trial

Abstract

Objectives To investigate the effect of 12 weeks of neck stabilization, core stabilization, and combined stabilization exercises on pain and disability among elderly people in Tehran City, Iran. Methods & Materials This study was a 12 weeks open-label clinical trial. A total of 18 elderly patients with chronic neck pain were randomly assigned into three groups: neck stabilization training (6 people), core stabilization training (6 people), and combined stabilization training (6 people). The severity of neck pain and disability before the beginning of the training, 8 weeks after training and one week after the completion of the exercises were measured using the Visual Analog Scale (VAS), Neck Disability Index (NDI) and Neck Pain and Disability Scale (NPDI). To investigate the effect of time, repeated measure analysis of variance was used to analyze the data in SPSS version 21. Results The Mean±SD scores of pain before and after neck stabilization treatment were respectively 6.08±0.58, 4.83±0.52 for VAS and 49.17±2.86 and 39.17±2.79 for NDI; and 56.4±2.11 and 50.0±1.64 for NPDI; those differences between pairs were significant. The Mean±SD scores of pain before and after core stabilization treatment were respectively, 6.00±0.55, 4.92±0.20 for VAS; 49.67±1.86 and 39.17 ±1.94 for NDI; and 56.01±2.44, and 48.92±1.16 for NPDI; those differences between pairs were significant. Also, the Mean±SD scores of pain before and after combined stabilization treatment were respectively, 6.00±0.45, 4.00±0.32 for VAS; 49.83±2.23 and 37.17±2.86 for NDI; and 55.25±0.28 and 47.51±1.44 for NPDI; those differences between pairs were significant (P<0.05). Among the underlying variables, gender was the only significant factor in pain relief in the elderly (F=6.21, P=0.02), while other variables were not significant (P>0.05). Conclusion The findings of this study showed that 12 sessions of neck, core, and combined stabilization training in the neck region could improve the tolerance and pain of the elderly with nonspecific chronic neck pain.

Effect of cervical stability exercises on neck pain and disability in patients with cervical spondylosis: A randomized controlled study

“…An 8week active craniocervical flexion exercise program was conducted on 46 females with chronic neck pain in comparison to passive exercise program that showed improvement in the motor function and stressed on the concept that the specific active treatment is important for improving motor control of the cervical spine. Our findings are in agreement with Azadi et al [25] who showed reduction of pain and neck disability after a 12week neck, core, and combined stabilization exercise program in elderly patients with chronic nonspecific cervical pain. Neck pain and disability were reduced after applying stability exercises program for three sessions per week, in three phases for 8 weeks on patients with cervical disc herniation.…”

Evaluating Muscle Activity During Work With Trackball, Trackpad, Slanted, and Standard Mice

“…Lee et al compared the newly designed trackpad, standard, and ergonomic mice. They concluded that the hand posture in using a trackpad mouse generated a greater distortion in the wrist, compared to the natural mode [12,22,23]. Therefore, the difference in the electrical activity level of EDC, ECR, FDS, and FPL muscles between the trackpad and slanted mice could be attributed to the differences in the posture and hand movements.…”

The effect of corrective exercises on musculoskeletal disorders among the older adults residing in a nursing home in Rasht, Guilan, Iran

“…Musculoskeletal disorder (MSD) refer to any tissue damage in the musculoskeletal system that results in organ dysfunction [ 6 ]. These disorders may result in pain and loss of function and are among the most disabling and costly conditions in the United States [ 7 ].…”