Efficacy of Neck Retraction Exercises with Ultrasound Therapy Versus Muscle Energy Technique on patients with Mechanical Neck Pain having Forward Neck Posture using Neck Disability index - A Comparative Study

Abstract

Back Ground and Purpose: Mechanical neck pain commonly arises insidiously and is generally multifactorial in origin. One of the major causes for it is a forward head posture which is abnormal. Forward head posture is usually associated with shortening the posterior cervical extensor muscles and weakening the anterior cervical flexor muscles. Multiple treatments approaches are being used in managing mechanical neck pain. Generally repeated neck retraction exercises have been recommended commonly for patients with neck pain along with some modalities. Specific treatment technique like muscle energy technique is also used to treat the mechanical neck pain. The purpose of this study was to compare the efficacy of neck retraction exercises with ultrasound therapy and muscle energy technique on patients with mechanical neck pain having forward neck posture using neck disability index. Study Method: Thirty patients with mechanical neck pain were randomly assigned to receive retraction exercises with ultrasound and postural advice (experimental group A, n = 10), muscle energy technique and postural advice (experimental group B, n = 10), and only postural advice (control group c, n = 10). All groups were treated for three weeks. The Neck disability index examines the subject's disability level. The rating of neck disability index is noted as pre-test and post-test for observing the subject's prognosis after Three weeks. Results: Paired t-test was used for within-group analysis. The between-group analysis was done using ANOVA. Significant differences were found in the neck disability outcome measure between all the three groups at p value>0.0001and at a 95% confidence interval. Both the Groups A and B were found to be significantly better than the control group, and Group A is significantly better than Group B at a 95% confidence interval with p-value >0.0001. Conclusion: This study concluded that retraction exercises with ultrasound therapy are more effective than the muscle energy technique in treating patients with mechanical neck pain with forward neck posture. However, both the treatment techniques showed a more significant improvement in reducing disability when compared to postural advice alone.