Resting head posture in relation to cervical muscle morphology and endurance in chronic mechanical neck pain / Nesma Salah Eedeen Farghaly ; Supervised Ebtessam Khattab Gadelmawla , Hatem Mohamed Elazizi , Aliaa Mohammed Rehan Youssef

Thesis (M.Sc.) - Cairo University - Faculty of Physical Therapy - Department of Physical Therapy for Neuromuscular and Neuro surgery

Background: Abnormalities in head posture have been associated with the development and persistence of neck pain. This in turn, could cause structural changes in the cervical muscles and impairment in the cervical muscles endurance. Thus, investigating the relation between the resting head posture and cervical muscles morphology and endurance can provide insights into mechanisms of pain chronicity. This could lead to better evaluation of neck pain and help in the development of rehabilitation programs. Purpose: To investigate relationship between resting head posture and cervical muscle morphology and endurance in subjects with chronic mechanical neck pain. Participants: Thirty subjects from both sexes were enrolled in this study. Results: There was no significant difference between both groups in all the variables measured except for the right sternocleidomastoid muscle thickness which was significantly smaller in patients with mechanical neck pain. Also, cervical flexor endurance showed significant decrease in subjects with mechanical neck pain. There were no significant correlations found in both groups between cervical angles and other measured variables. Also no significant correlation was found between amount of pain and degree of functional disability in subjects with mechanical neck pain. Conclusion: Subjects with mechanical neck pain didn't show significant difference in cervical angles compared to their age- matched peers. Thus, correcting this posture in this population should not be a priority in rehabilitation. On the other hand, sternocleidomastoid muscle showed structural changes in the form of atrophy, thus incorporating early strengthening together with stretching should be recommended in rehabilitation programs.

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