Abstract

Effect of myofascial release technique on pain, disability, maximum isometric contraction of the extensor muscles, and pressure pain threshold in patients with chronic nonspecific neck pain: Double blinded randomized clinical trial

The impact of myofascial release technique alone has not been investigated in the patients with non-specific chronic neck pain. Thus, the aim of this study was to investigate the impacts of myofascial release technique on pain, disability, the maximum contraction of isometric extensor muscles of neck and pressure pain threshold in the patient with non-specific chronic neck pain compared with control group. In this clinical, randomized, double-blind trial, the patients with non-specific chronic neck pain have been entered the study by the available sampling method and have been located randomly into two groups of myofascial release therapy group, and control group. Pressure pain threshold, pain intensity, disability and isometric power of neck extensor muscles before and after intervention were registered through pressure algometer, visual analogue scale, neck disability index, and pressure biofeedback. The treatment was performed for 4 sessions and each session for 20 minutes. The paired t-tests and independent t-test were used for within group and between group comparison respectively. Comparing the mean of pain intensity, pressure pain threshold, neck disability index in the intervention group compared with control group showed significant reduction (P<0.05). The strength of isometric extension of neck after intervention was improved, although it did not show significant change (P>0.05). Myofascial Release is one of the effective manual therapy techniques in reducing pain, disability, improving the isometric extension strength of neck in patients with nonspecific chronic neck pain.

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