The Effectiveness of the Exercise Program Applied by Telerehabilitation Method in Individuals With Chronic Neck Pain

Medipol University

Status: Completed

Conditions: Neck Pain

Treatments: Other: Exercise Program Applied by Telerehabilitation

Study type: Interventional

Funder types: Other

Identifiers

NCT04831931

C92F2628X5

Details and patient eligibility

About

Neck pain is a common musculoskeletal problem occurring as one of the first conditions causing decreased quality of life and disability.

An estimated 67.5% of people experience neck pain in their lives (5, 6). When the adult population is considered (15-74 years old), the prevalence ranges from 5.9% to 38.7%.

Causes of neck pain are largely variable, and include working in unsuitable ergonomic positions, sitting for a long time, and keeping the neck in abnormal physiological position for a long time.

Various factors are effective in the chronic stage of neck pain. Neck pain is associated with decreased strength and endurance of the cervical muscles. It was observed that deep flexor muscles are weak and superficial flexor muscle activity is increased in patients with neck pain; and that exercise is effective in reducing neck pain because strength, endurance, and flexibility can be regained in the structures around the damaged tissue.

There are several approaches that were found to be effective in the treatment of neck pain. These treatment strategies include physical therapy modalities, manual therapy, therapeutic exercise (stretching, strengthening, and endurance exercises) and home exercise programs.

Home exercise programs are used to expand the clinic-based physical therapy approaches to treat neck pain.

It was stated that it is now compulsory to develop new rehabilitation models and practices to cope with global increase in elderly population, limited resources allocated to public health, and changes in population needs. Telerehabilitation is recommended as a solution to provide physical therapy services; however, it was reported in previous studies that more studies are required in this field to accept its effectiveness.

The purpose of the present study is to examine the effects of 4-week exercise protocol established with stretching, strengthening the scapula muscles for the neck and upper body, neck and core stabilization exercises by ensuring the follow-up of the patients with Telerehabilitation Method on patients' neck pain, Daily Life Activities (DLA), and quality of life by comparing its effects with individuals who apply only home program.

Enrollment: 66 patients

Sex: All

Ages: 18+ years old

Volunteers: Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

• voluntary individuals suffering from neck pain for at least 3 months
• over the age of 18
• have a minimum score of 3/10 according to the Numeric Pain Rating Scale
• who fill out the pain preliminary information form, and who will agree to participate in the study through this form.

Exclusion criteria

• Pregnant women,
• History of malignancy
• Congenital deformities or surgery history in the neck or shoulder area
• perception problems for verbal commands
• not having internet access
• not having equipment to make video calls

Trial design

Primary purpose: Treatment

Allocation: Randomized

Interventional model: Parallel Assignment

Masking: Single Blind

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66 participants in 3 patient groups

Supervised Exercise Group

Experimental group

Description:

Telerehabilitation will be applied in this group, which will last 4 weeks, and include the following processes * Exercises that will be performed every Monday will be taught and applied face-to-face under the supervision of the therapist with online videoconferencing method. Then, videos of weekly exercises that will be prepared by the therapist will be transmitted online to patients. * Patients will be asked to perform these exercises 4 days a week in the same week, on Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays. * Also, a video call will be made on Fridays to evaluate whether the movements are done effectively and correctly, and questions of patients (if any) will be answered. * Patients will be informed by the physiotherapist that they should send messages on Wednesdays and Sundays to show that they are doing the exercises. * The exercise program of new week will be taught every Monday for 4 weeks, the prepared video will be sent, and the program will be advanced and completed.

Treatment:

Other: Exercise Program Applied by Telerehabilitation

Exercise Group

Active Comparator group

Description:

Exercise recommendations will be made to this group. Videos and photographs of weekly exercises prepared by the therapist will be sent online to the patient every Monday for 4 weeks, patients will be advised to repeat these exercises 4 days a week.

Treatment:

Other: Exercise Program Applied by Telerehabilitation

Control Group

No Intervention group

Description:

No exercise application will be done in this group.Evaluation tests will be applied for 4 weeks only online.