Effect of post isometric relaxation technique in the treatment of mechanical neck pain

Abstract

Background and purpose: Neck pain is one of the most common musculoskeletal disorders in the general population which have large economic burden on the health care system. So, the purpose of the study was to investigate the effect of muscle energy technique in form of post isometric relaxation (PIR) with the traditional physical therapy treatment versus traditional physical therapy treatment alone on pain and range of motion (ROM) in patients with chronic mechanical neck pain (MNP). Materials and methods: Thirty patients randomly assigned into two equal groups. Group A received a traditional physical therapy program while group B received the same program in addition to PIR technique instead of passive stretching. Neck pain and disability was measured using neck pain and disability scale while ROM of the cervical spine was measured by OB goniometer. Results: There were significant decreases (P<0.05) in pain and there were significant increases (P<0.05) in ROM post treatment for both groups. However, there was significance differences (P<0.05) between both groups post treatment in the measurable variables. Conclusion: Adding PIR technique to the conventional physical therapy treatment program of chronic MNP was more effective in reducing pain and functional disability and increasing cervical ROM than the traditional treatment program alone.

Muscle Energy Technique in the Rehabilitative Treatment for Acute and Chronic Non-Specific Neck Pain: A Systematic Review

“…Characteristics of included studies are summarized in Table 2 and Table 3 . We used 15 studies [ 34 , 35 , 36 , 37 , 38 , 39 , 40 , 41 , 42 , 43 , 44 , 45 , 46 , 47 , 48 ] to analyze the effects of MET in patients with non-specific acute neck pain, and 6 studies [ 49 , 50 , 51 , 52 , 53 , 54 ] to analyze the effects of MET in patients with non-specific chronic neck pain. Articles had sample sizes ranging from 28 to 90, contributing to a total sample size of 913 participants, consisting of 527 females and 386 males with a mean baseline age of 18 to 55 years with an average of 32.18 (±7.59).…”

“…Notably, subjects treated with NSE showed more improvement in outcomes than others. El-Laithy et al [ 50 ] investigated the effect of MET as post-isometric relaxation (PIR) in combination with the traditional physical therapy versus the traditional physical therapy alone. They randomly assigned 30 patients into two groups: Group 1 performed a traditional physical therapy program, and Group 2 received PIR plus a traditional physical therapy program.…”

“…The first question was: “How effective is MET compared to other available therapies in non-specific acute or chronic neck pain?” For convenience, the studies were analyzed by dividing them into two subgroups, one treating acute non-specific neck pain and the other chronic neck pain, respectively. All the studies analyzed show an effective improvement in the outcomes of pain, disability and joint function, which leads us to say that MET is certainly an effective and safe technique in the treatment of cervical pain [ 35 , 40 , 47 , 48 , 49 , 50 , 51 , 52 , 53 , 54 , 55 ]. However, the results for the two subgroups were different: as regards neck pain in the acute phase, a significant improvement was recorded in all three outcomes, superior to or comparable to the other methods with which it was compared [ 35 , 40 , 47 , 48 , 55 ]; in the chronic phase neck pain there was greater attention in relation to joint function, the only parameter significantly higher than the other comparison methods [ 49 , 50 , 51 , 52 , 53 , 54 ].…”

The Effect of Muscle Energy Technique and Posture Correction Exercises on Pain and Function in Patients with Non-specific Chronic Neck Pain Having Forward Head Posture—a Randomized Controlled Trail

“…The therapist-guided neck range of motion group was observed to have significant within-group decreases in pain. According to a study published by EI Laithy and Fouda, ( 22 ) the mechanism behind the reducing in pain for this group is that the isometric neck exercises cause the activation of the muscle stretch receptors which occur during strong isometric contraction of muscle and this leads to the release of beta endorphins from the pituitary gland, thereby decreasing the pain. This hypothesis is supported by research study by Rupesh et al ( 23 ) on the effects of sitting posture modification and exercises in school going children with neck pain in a rural area where subjects were given sitting posture modification, isometric neck exercises, and home exercises and were a reduction in pain and neck disability after posture correction exercises was observed.…”

Effects of Muscle Energy Technique in Patients with Tension Type Headache; A Randomized Control Clnicial Trial

“…The rst episode of TTH in maximum number of people is 20 years and maximum occurrence in the ages of 30 to 39 years (3). Active treatment methods that consist of voluntary contraction of muscle in a de ned and controlled direction while an opposite force is applied by the therapist are called as muscle energy technique (MET) (4).…”