Thesis (Ph.D.) - Cairo University - Faculty of Physical Therapy - Department of Musculoskeletal Disorders

Background: Neural tissue mobilization techniques are passive or active movements aiming for restoring the ability of the nervous system to tolerate the normal compressive, friction and tensile forces associated with daily and sports activities. The effectiveness of neu»ral mobilization (NM) for neuromusculoskeletal conditions still unclear and limited evidence. Objectives: To determine the efficacy of tensioning neural mobilization (NM) on handgrip strength, mechano sensitivity of brachial nerves, and neck and arm pain intensity in patients with unilateral chronic cervical radiculopathy. Setting: The study was conducted at department of physical therapy in AL- Badrashin and AL-Nozha central hospitals, Cairo, Egypt. Study Design: a single-blinded randomized trial. Methods: Forty participants with chronic unilateral CR were randomly assigned either to group-A (conventional physical therapy group, n =20), that received a conventional physical therapy in the form of manual traction, flexion stretching exercise and infra-red irradiation, and group{u2013}B (neural mobilization group, n = 20) that received conventional physical therapy in addition to tensioning neural mobilization of brachial plexus. Handgrip strength, mechano sensitivity of the brachial nerves and neck and arm pain were evaluated at baseline and one week after the end of a 3-week program. Results: There were significant within-group differences in both groups regarding hand grip strength, mechanosensitivity, and pain intensity; for hand grip strength, for group (A): (P-value =0.001), and for group (B): (P-value=0.001).for mechano sensitivity; for group (A): (P-value=0.001), for group (B): (P-value=0.001). Regarding pain, P-value is less than (0.01) for group (A), and P-value is less than (0.01) for group (B). But there was no statistically significant difference between both groups regarding hand grip strength (p-value: 0.374), mechano sensitivity (p-value: 0.07) or pain intensity (p-value: 0.838)

Issued also as CD