Effect of cervical radiculopathy on handgrip strength in Egyptian dentists / Yahya Zakaria Mohamed ; Supervised Magda Gaid Sedhom , Mary Kamal Nassif Takla

Thesis (M.Sc.) - Cairo University - Faculty of Physical Therapy - Department of Basic Science

Background: Dentistry demands high accuracy and dentists frequently assume a rotated and forward head posture. This produces high static load in the neck muscle leads tp imbalance or cervical instability. Purpose of this study: was to investigate the effect of cervical radiculopathy on handgrip strength in Egyptian dentists. Participants and method: Case control study was used. One hundred right handed dentists were selected from different hospitals at Cairo and Giza as follow: October 6 university, MUST university, MSA university and Kasr Elainy oral and dentist medical school with age ranging from 25 to 35 years old and with work experience from 3 to 10 years. Dentists were stratified into two equal groups; cervical radiculopathy; group A; Uni-lateral cervical radiculopathy,confirmed with a positive Spurling sign as well as a score above 30 of neck disability index and has pain 3 months prior to assessment. Control group; group B; healthy dentists with no pain experience 3 months prior to the study. Outcome measures; handgrip strength was measured by Jamar handgrip dynamometer and neck disability index. Results: There was a significant decrease of the handgrip strength in group A when compared with that of group B as the mean ± SD handgrip strength of group A was 29.48 ± 4.29 kg while that of group B was 47.72 ± 5.21 kg. There was a strong negative correlation between handgrip strength and NDI (r =-0.8, p =0.0001). Conclusion: Based on the findings of this study, there was a significant decrease of the handgrip strength in dentists suffering from unilateral cervical radiculopathy compared to healthy pain free dentists

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