The Role of Physical Activity and Physical Therapy on Muscle Relaxation and Pain in Neck Disorders

Abstract

Background: Musculoskeletal problems (neck, shoulder, back pain etc.) occur as a chronic pain or disability that reducesquality of life and economic productivity. To test the hypothesis that, comparison of the effectiveness of one-session application of two physiotherapy methods. The other aim is to investigation the relationship between physical activity and pain, muscle relaxation. Method: This study was designed randomized trial and double blind. Participants (with neck pain) divided into two groups (Classical Massage (CM), n=24 and Active Stretching, n=21) Pain were determined by the visual analog scale (VAS), a digital pressure algometer was used to assess pain threshold (PT) level and muscle relaxation response was measured by means of electromyography biofeedback (EMG_BF). Physical activity was determined by the physical activity assessment questionnaire (PAAQ). Results: Only the EMG values on the right SCM muscles of the CM group was found significantly higher than stretching group (p=0.003). The relationship between EMG-BF, PT values and PAAQ was examined. Conclusions: Self-stretching is more effective than CM in providing muscle relaxation. Physical activities (especially steps, sitting at home working and school activities) particularly affect neck pain and SCM muscle.

Exercise‐induced hypoalgesic effects of different types of physical exercise in individuals with neck pain: A systematic review and meta‐analysis

“…13 There were conflicting results on EIH following different exercise modalities, 27,28 and the same exercises produced different effects in different studies. [28][29][30][31] This might be due to (1) differential individual responses to physical exercise, (2) variances in the effects of different types of exercise, and (3) the pain condition studied. 13 Here, we conduct a systematic review and meta-analysis to evaluate the EIH effects of varying exercise modalities for individuals with neck pain.…”

“…Active stretching of the cervical spine was performed in two studies. 29,31 Both the studies used the same exercises and measured PPT only at the local site. The results have shown contradictory findings as hypoalgesic effects 31 in one study and hyperalgesic effects 29 in the other study.…”

“…The ROB 2.0 tool was used to analyze the risk of bias for seven RCT studies. 27,29,31,[46][47][48][49] Five domains were assessed separately, and at the end, the total score was reported. Overall, two studies 31,49 were reported with some concerns for risk of bias, and the other five were at low risk.…”

“…27,29,31,[46][47][48][49] Five domains were assessed separately, and at the end, the total score was reported. Overall, two studies 31,49 were reported with some concerns for risk of bias, and the other five were at low risk. 27,29,[46][47][48] One case-control study 30 was included in this systematic review, and ROB was assessed using the NIH tool; the quality of this study was rated as "good.…”

“…A recent review conducted on pain‐free individuals and individuals with different chronic pain conditions demonstrated that EIH findings are ambiguous, with some participants experiencing higher pain thresholds (hypoalgesia) postexercise, yet others experiencing lower pain thresholds (hyperalgesia) 13 . There were conflicting results on EIH following different exercise modalities, 27,28 and the same exercises produced different effects in different studies 28–31 . This might be due to (1) differential individual responses to physical exercise, (2) variances in the effects of different types of exercise, and (3) the pain condition studied 13 .…”