“Effectiveness of Lower Trapezius Strengthening Exercises along with Conventional Physiotherapy among Patients with Neck Pain attended at CRP; Randomized Controlled Trial”

Abstract

Purpose: The study evaluated the Lower Trapezius Strengthening Exercise along with Conventional Physiotherapy applied to the cervical region for pain and functional impairment caused by neck pain Objectives: The objective of the study is to determine on severity of pain, dysfunction, and disability before and after application of LTSE along with conventional physiotherapy among patients with neck pain. Methodology: An experimental study design was chosen for this study. 34 patients with Neck Pain were randomly allocated into two groups, from the outpatient musculoskeletal physiotherapy unit, CRP. Among them 17 patients who were assigned to the trial group received Lower Trapezius Strengthening Exercises with conventional physiotherapy and another 17 in the control group received only conventional physiotherapy. Total treatment sessions were 12 comprising of 3 sessions per week for 4 weeks. A single blinding procedure was used during data collection. Dallas pain questionnaire by using a Numerical pain rating scale of 10cm (NPRS) was used to measure neck pain and the Neck Disability Index to measure neck disability. Inferential statistics such as independent test for between groups Dallas pain and NDI, Paired t-test for within-group Dallas pain and NDI using SPSS version 20. Results: It was found that neck pain and neck disability had reduced both within and between a group of experimental and control groups. Both groups showed a statistically significant improvement within a group (P<.05). But the experimental group (P=0.000) indicates slightly more significance than the control group. Conclusion: Lower trapezius strengthening exercise (LTSE) along with conventional physiotherapy can slightly improve the effects of only conventional physiotherapy in neck pain. This exercise proved beneficial when combined with conventional physiotherapy to minimize disability level prevent recurrence, and reduce pain. Keywords: Neck pain, lower trapezius strengthening (LTSE), and Conventional physiotherapy.