Physical Therapy Intervention in Dental Students

Joshua Subialka

Status: Completed

Conditions: Quality of Life; Strength; Pain

Treatments: Procedure: Home exercise program only; Procedure: Supervised exercise + home exercise program

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT05851586

AZ-5178

Details and patient eligibility

About

The main purpose of our study is to assess whether guided strength training and stretching intervention with a written home exercise program is more effective than a home exercise program alone for pre-clinical dental students in improving and preventing pain associated with dental laboratory practice. Secondary aims will be to assess relationships between strength and quality of life measures of an individual and pain levels.

Full description

Musculoskeletal (MSK) pain has been identified as a major concern among dental professionals. This can lead to decreased productivity, efficiency and quality of work along with higher costs for the medical system. The body region that is affected the most is the neck, followed by the back and shoulders.

Ergonomic assessments and interventions can identify the areas of concern with workplace set up, however, training the muscles to adapt to abnormal postures may be an effective way of increasing the resilience of the MSK system while decreasing MSK pain as well. Specifically, strength training and stretching has been well researched as a way to prevent and improve pain for neck pain, low back pain and shoulder pain. Physical therapists are well trained in prevention and treatment of injuries, including a wealth of knowledge regarding strength training and stretching for specific regions. The main purpose of our study is to assess whether guided strength

Thus, the main purpose of our study is to assess whether guided strength training and stretching intervention with a written home exercise program is more effective than a home exercise program alone for pre-clinical dental students in improving and preventing pain associated with dental laboratory practice. The secondary aim will be to assess the relationships between strength and quality of life measures of an individual and pain levels.

Enrollment: 16 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18+ years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• Adults ages 18+
• Current 2nd year university dental students

Exclusion criteria

• Any type of musculoskeletal surgery in the past 6 months

Trial design

Primary purpose: Prevention

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: Single Blind

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16 participants in 2 patient groups

Supervised exercise + home exercise program

Experimental group

Description:

The intervention group (supervised exercise) which will receive supervised strengthening and stretching exercises by a licensed physical therapist in a group setting 2 times per month for 30 minutes each session as well as a home exercise program with general stretching and strengthening exercises for various body parts (focusing on neck, thoracic spine, lumbar spine, shoulder and hand/wrist) that will be identical to the home exercise program only group.

Treatment:

Procedure: Supervised exercise + home exercise program

Home exercise program only

Active Comparator group

Description:

The home exercise program only group will be provided with a written home exercise program consisting of general stretching and strengthening exercises for various body parts (focusing on neck, thoracic spine, lumbar spine, shoulder and hand/wrist). The exercise programs will be identical for both the supervised exericse and the home exercise program only groups.

Treatment:

Procedure: Home exercise program only