The purpose of this study was to investigate the comparative effectiveness of high velocity and low amplitude (HVLA)vs Mobilization (Mob) vs Mobilization with movement technique (MWMT) in sample of patients with chronic neck pain (CNP). Secondly to evaluate the immediate effects in range of motion and pain thresholds, and the interaction between psychological factors and the outcomes of these three types of manual therapy. The hypothesis is that all manual therapies techniques will produce similar effects.
The randomized controlled trial included patients with mechanically reproducible CNP, ≥ age 18-years who are randomized into three groups of treatment. The main outcome measures were the Visual Analogue scale (VAS), and, with secondary measures of Neck Disability Index (NDI), Global Rating Of Change (GROC), Cervical Range Of Motion (CROM), Pressure Pain Threshold (PPT), State Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI-T), Beck depression Inventory (BDI-II), Tampa Scale for Kinesiophobia, Pain Catastrophizing Scale (PCS).
Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Allocation
RANDOMIZED
Purpose
TREATMENT
Masking
DOUBLE
Enrollment
61
The Cervical Spine Manipulation is a manual therapy technique directed at the hypomobile and painful vertebral level. The subject was supine with the cervical spine in a neutral position. The index finger of the therapist applies contact over the posterolateral aspect of the zygapophyseal joint of the hypomobile vertebra. The therapist performs the technique taking account the most limited movement; lateral or rotational. A maximum of 2 attempts will performed on each subject regardless audible cavitation.
The mobilization is a passive oscillatory technique, applied over cervical region in the hypomobile cervical level, the patient will be in prone and the therapist standing at the head of the patients with his thumbs in opposition placed at the level of the facet of the hypomobile cervical vertebra. A posteroanterior(PA) oscillatory pressure is applied, through the thumbs, over the process of the hypomobile vertebra. This oscillatory mobilization, is performed at a frequency of 2Hz (with metronome control/steps) for 2 minutes and repeated 3 times. The rest time between each mobilization was 1 minute.
Universidad Rey Juan Carlos
Alcorcón, Madrid, Spain
Visual Analogue Scale
visual analogue scale (VAS). Despite being a subjective evaluation, it has been documented in previous studies its reliability and validity and its sensitivity to the clinical changes. For this reason, this scale has been used in numerous clinical trials on neck pains to evaluate the results. The patient places a vertical mark on a flat horizontal line of 10 cm. One extreme is 0 (no pain) and the other extreme is 10 (maximum pain) and it must be a difference of 2 points in the evaluation range to produce minimal improvement which is clinically significant.
Time frame: The Patients will be followed for 12 weeks after treatment
Neck disability
The Neck Disability Index (NDI) is an assessment tool used to record the perceived disability in patients with neck pain .It was developed by Howard Vernon from the well-known and validated Oswestry scale for low back pain. The NDI is a self-administered questionnaire with 10 sections. 7 related to activities of daily living, 2 related to pain and 1 with concentration. Each of the sections is scored from 0 to 5, and the total score is expressed as a percentage relative to the maximum possible. The Spanish version was used in this study. This scale offer a high levels of validity and reliability (infraclass correlation coefficient, ICC: 0.88), is stable against different cultural levels and is consistent and reliable. The minimum detectable change is 5 points out of 50, while it is recommended t 7 points as the minimum difference clinically important.
Time frame: The Patients will be followed for 12 weeks after treatment
Active Cervical Range of Motion
The ACROM is an instrument that assesses the active range of motion of the cervical segment and has been used in numerous studies to evaluate the results in manual therapy. Furthermore, it has proven to be a reliable method of measuring, providing a range of intra-meter reliability from 0.7 to 0.9 and a range of inter-meter reliability from 0.8 to 0.87. It consists of an inclinometers system. Gravitational inclinometers for flexion-extension and lateral flexion, and magnetic inclinometers for rotation. The patient, sitting in a chair with the goniometer placed over his head, is asked to perform analytical neck movements (flexion, extension, right lateral flexion, left lateral flexion, right rotation and left rotation) to the point of beginning of pain symptoms or, otherwise, to the fullest extent of mobility. Each movement is recorded three times to take the average.
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This is a manual therapy technique that consist of applied a sustain pressure over cervical hypomobile symptomatic level and request to patient a pain free movement. For performs it, the therapist placed his thumbs on the articular process of that level. The patient sitting. Then, the subject had to perform actively the painful motion while the therapist guides the movement of that vertebra and resists it while returning to neutral. The strength applied was parallel to the plane of the joint, and the procedure was performed in 3 sets of 10 repetitions.
Time frame: The Patients will be followed for 12 weeks after treatment
Pressure Pain thresholds (PPTs)
Pressure pain threshold (PPT) was used in this study for measure the mechanical hyperalgesia. A digital algometer (FDX 25, Wagner Instruments, Greenwich, CT, USA) comprised of a rubber head (1 cm2) attached to a pressure gauge, was used to measure PPTs. Force was measured in kilograms/f (kgf). The measures were taken 3 times at the cervical spine (C2 spinous process), with an interval of 30 seconds between each of the measurements. An average of the 3 measurements was calculated to obtain a single value for each of the measured points in each of the assessments. The assessor localized the spinous process of C2.
Time frame: pre-treatment and post-treatment