Background Reduced ability to maintain and upright posture, may reflect impaired muscle endurance and proprioceptive accuracy required to control the postural position in patients with neck pain. A recent study investigated the effect of cervical stabilisation exercises on proprioception of neck pain patients. But in mentioned study the joint position change was evaluated for only cervical flexion movement.

Objectives The aim of our study is determine the acute effect of cervical stabilisation exercises on joint position sense in all ranges of neck movement in patients with idiopathic chronic neck pain.

Methods 20 patients (27–45 ages, 80%female and 4 men 20% male) with neck pain for more than 3 months were participated in this study. Exercise training was performed only one session. Patients with any neurological deficits, any recent injuries to neck and were excluded from the study Training included craniocervical flexion, deep cervical extensor muscle activation, isometric flexion-extension exercises in upright position and shoulder flexion with neutral cervical position in upright position. Each exercise were performed five times. The measured variables included joint repositioning errors in the sagittal and horizontal directions. Visual Analogue Scale (VAS), Neck Disability Index (NDI) were implemented for determining the personal characteristics of patients. Cervical joint repositioning error was evaluated by laser pointer in flexion, extension, rotation and lateral flexion of cervical movement directions at sitting position before and after exercise session. Wilcoxon test was used to compare to differences between repeated assessments

Results VAS values for pain intensity were (mean ±SD) 5.56±3.17, NDI values were 14.06±6.83 and HADS scores were 18.27±2.23. In comparison to baseline values, joint position error was significantly lower in flexion, extension, rotation and lateral flexion directions at horizontal and sagittal planes (p<0.001) except right lateral flexion at sagittal plane (p>0.05) (table 1).

Conclusions The immediate effects of neck stabilisation exercises on proprioceptive function of neck may reflect that these exercises, may enhance postural awareness and control while in motion.

References [1] Stanton TR, et al. Evidence of Impaired Proprioception in Chronic, Idiopathic Neck Pain: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Phys Ther2016;96(6).

[2] Rupesh P, Immediate Effect of Neck Stabilization Exercise on Neck Repositioning Accuracy in Chronic Neck Pain Patients. International Journal of Clinical Skills2017:2.

Disclosure of Interest None declared