Exercise therapy program can help lift the burden of neck pain for office workers
Though exercise is considered beneficial, it's unclear which type is best
Neck pain is a prevalent ailment that plagues all types of people, but it's particularly common among those working in an office, with approximately 43-69% of office workers experiencing it in the past year. Neck pain can in turn lead to personal suffering, as it limits the patient and impairs their quality of work and life, which can be a burden on both patients and society. Nonspecific neck pain (NSNP) is assigned to cases where no specific systematic disease has been detected as the underlying cause of complaint, and can come about from muscles, joint structures, ligaments or intervertebral disks. Due to its prevalence, a significant amount of attention has been given to preventing and alleviating NSNP, and exercise therapy is one intervention that's been proven beneficial for NSNP. However, the cause for NSNP for office workers is different in each case, and it's unclear which type of exercise is most effective for them. Therefore, a systematic review was conducted on all available literature to determine which types of exercise are most effective for preventing and curing NSNP for office workers.
Specific type of studies sought for review
Major databases were searched for relevant studies, and only randomized controlled trials (RCTs) that used one or more types of exercise as the primary intervention on a study sample of office workers with NSNP as a symptom were used. After evaluating all potential fits, nine studies fit the inclusion criteria and were used for the review. Each study was then assessed for methodological quality using the PEDro scale, which scores studies out of 10-point scale and assigns those with five points or more a high quality rating, while those below five are considered low quality. Exercise interventions were classified as either muscle strengthening, muscle endurance, stretching or nonspecific exercises.
Exercise therapy proven effective for treating certain aspects of NSNP
Of the nine studies, six were rated as high quality, with a mean quality score of 6.8, while the other three were deemed low quality. While evidence supporting the effectiveness of exercise therapy for preventing NSNP was minimal and conflicting, significant evidence was found in high-quality RCTs for a number of exercise interventions for treating certain aspects of NSNP. Strong evidence supported the positive effect of muscle strengthening and muscle endurance exercises, showing it to reduce intensity, discomfort and/or duration of neck pain. There was also moderate evidence supporting the positive effect of muscle endurance training in reducing disability, especially with a program that included neck flexor endurance exercises. While additional research is needed to address certain shortcomings of the review in greater detail, conclusions can be drawn, and this review can clearly serve as an impressive case to support muscle strengthening and muscle endurance exercises for office workers with NSNP.
-Summarized by Greg Gargiulo
-As reported in the Jan. 11 edition of Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics
