The Efficacy of Cervical Lordosis Rehabilitation for Nerve Root Function and Pain in Cervical Spondylotic Radiculopathy

Cairo University (CU)

Status

Completed

Conditions

Cervical Lordosis Rehabilitation

Treatments

Other: Stretching exercises

Other: Two way traction

Study type

Interventional

Funder types

Other

Identifiers

NCT05547997

Cairo-20-18-4

Details and patient eligibility

About

To test the hypothesis that improvement of cervical lordosis (CL) in cervical spondylotic radiculopathy (CSR) will improve clinical features in a population suffering from CSR. Thirty chronic lower CSR patients with CL < 25° will be included. Patients will be assigned randomly into two equal groups, study and control . Both groups will receive neck stretching and exercises and infrared; additionally the study group will receive cervical extension traction. Treatments will be applied 3 time per week for 10 weeks after which groups will be followed for 3-months and 2-years. Amplitude of dermatomal somatosensory evoked potentials (DSSEPS), Cervical lordosis, and pain scales (NRS) will be measured.

Full description

Previous studies testing the effects of 3-point bending types of cervical traction, have not clarified exactly what impact the sagittal cervical curve correction has on nerve root function and pain responses associated with improving an abnormal cervical lordosis in cervical spondylotic patients. The present randomized controlled trial will be undertaken to investigate the neurophysiological and pain response outcomes of 3-point bending (2-way) traction compared to standard care in patient cases with lower cervical spine CSR, chronic pain, and with a verified hypo-lordosis of the cervical spine. The primary hypothesis of this study will be that cervical lordosis restoration will have short- and long-term effects on DSSEPs and pain outcomes in CSR patients.

Enrollment

30 patients

Sex

All

Ages

40 to 50 years old

Volunteers

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Inclusion criteria

Unilateral radiculopathy due to spondylotic changes of the lower cervical spine
Absolute rotatory angle is less than 20°
side to side amplitude differences of 50% or more in dermatomal somatosensory evoked potentials measurement

Exclusion criteria

Central spinal canal stenosis
Rheumatoid arthritis
Vestibulobasilar insufficiency
Osteoporosis
Inability to tolerate the cervical extension position

Trial design

Primary purpose

Treatment

Allocation

Randomized

Interventional model

Parallel Assignment

Masking

Single Blind

30 participants in 2 patient groups

two way traction

Experimental group

Description:

The study group will receive 3-point bending cervical extension traction following the protocol of Harrison et al. The duration of each session will starte at approximately three minutes and increased one minute per session until reaching the goal of 20 minutes per session

Treatment:

Other: Stretching exercises

Other: Two way traction

traditional treatment

Active Comparator group

Description:

Stretching exercises: Patients will perform the stretching program 3 times a week; with a single session taking about 10 minutes to perform.

Treatment:

Other: Stretching exercises