Purpose: To investigate the effect of therapeutic exercise (TE) on pain, disability, posture, and health status in female dentists suffering from chronic neck pain (NP).
Methods: 48 female dentists (40-45 years) suffering from NP were randomly divided into two experimental (n = 24) and control (n = 24) groups. Experimental group received 8 weeks of TE aimed to improve (1) muscle coordination and proprioception, (2) muscular endurance, and (3) muscle strength. Control group received no specific exercises. The pain, disability, posture (forward head and protracted shoulder angles), and health status were assessed at baseline and after an 8-week TE by visual analogue scale (VAS), neck disability index (NDI), photogrammetry, and self-rated general health questionnaire, respectively. Wilcoxon and Mann-Whitney non-parametric tests were used for statistical analysis.
Results: There were significant between-group differences in neck pain [p = 0.003, 0.86 (0.09-1.65)], disability [p = 0.009, ES (95% CI) = 0.78 (0.020-1.37)], forward head angle [p = 0.039, ES (95% CI) = 0.61 (0.034-1.19)], protracted shoulder angle [p = 0.031, ES (95% CI) = 0.64 (0.062-1.22)], and health status [p = 0.022, ES (95% CI) = 0.68 (0.102-1.26)] favoring the corrective exercise group. There were significant within-group changes in pain, disability, posture, and health status in the experimental group. However, there were no within group changes in the control group.
Conclusions: TEs successfully alleviated pain, disability, posture, and health status in female dentists suffering from chronic NP. Considering the extremely large effect size of TEs, this intervention was recommended to neck pain treatment in patients suffering from chronic NP, poor posture, and health problem.
Keywords: Disability; Health status; Neck pain; Posture; Therapeutic exercise.