Left/Right Neck Judgment Performance in Individuals With Neck Pain

Overview

Neck pain is one of the leading causes of disability worldwide and ranks fourth among the pathologies that result in disability. Although neck pain can be attributed to traumatic or inflammatory disorders, the majority of neck pain has no discernible cause and is considered idiopathic. Neck pain that lasts longer than 3 months takes the form of chronic neck pain. Some problems such as changes in muscle behavior and decrease in proprioceptive sensory input are observed in individuals with chronic neck pain. The presence of such problems, especially the dysfunction of the deep cervical muscles and the inability of the proprioceptors to provide motor control, cause the position sense to be impaired in these individuals and the awareness of the neck of the individuals decreases. The Left Right Judgment Task (LRJT) is a form of implicit motor imagery that involves determining as accurately and quickly as possible whether an image of a body part belongs to the left or right side. LRJT performance differences have been hypothesized to reflect changes in central nervous system functioning, errors in judgment, and changes in bodily representations. It has been shown that LRJT is a complex mental task that includes cognitive, sensory, motor and behavioral processes and can be associated with them. Recent studies have revealed that neck pain causes proprioceptive disorder and that proprioceptive training should be done in these individuals. A study showed that there is a strong correlation between biasedness judgment accuracy and proprioception. In this context, the investigators aimed to investigate the knowledge about the effect of individuals with neck pain on proprioception, cortical body diagram and pain.

Method: The demographic characteristics of individuals who come to the clinic with a complaint of neck pain and meet the inclusion criteria as directed by the doctor will be recorded. The level of neck involvement will be determined according to the Neck Paint Task Force. Functionality level of all participants will be evaluated by Neck Disability Index, pain intensity by Visual Analog Scale, fear of movement by Tampa Kinesiophobia Scale, body awareness by left/right neck rotation, judgment task performance and neck awareness by Fremantle Neck Awareness Questionnaire. Left/right neck rotation decision task performance With the Recognise™ (http://www.nongroup.com/Recognise) application, the participant will be asked to do it on a single type tablet provided by the physiotherapist. After participants practice on 10 images before proceeding to the main tasks, 40 images will be displayed on the tablet screen in random order at five-second intervals. The participant will decide and answer as soon as possible whether the picture is right or left. The average percentage and reaction time of correctly identified images on both sides will then be calculated.