Neck muscle vibration can improve sensorimotor function in patients with neck pain.

BACKGROUND CONTEXT People with neck pain display a diminished joint position sense and disturbed postural control, which is thought to be a result of impaired somatosensory afferent activity and/or integration. Afferent processing can be artificially manipulated by vibration and was shown to reduce motor performance in healthy subjects. However, the effect of vibration on sensorimotor function in neck pain patients is scarcely investigated. PURPOSE To assess the effect of neck muscle vibration on joint position sense and postural control in neck pain subjects and healthy controls. STUDY DESIGN Case control study. PATIENT SAMPLE Thirteen neck pain patients and 10 healthy controls participated in the present study. OUTCOME MEASUREMENTS Cervical joint position sense and dynamic and static postural stability. METHODS Short-term, targeted neck muscle vibration with 100 Hz was applied after baseline measurement. RESULTS Vibration had opposite effects in patients and healthy subjects. Patients showed improved joint position sense (p<.01) and reduced dynamic postural sway (p<.05) after vibration, whereas vibration resulted in reduced joint position sense acuity (p<.05) and a nonsignificant increase in postural sway in healthy controls. CONCLUSIONS This is the first study showing an improved motor performance after neck muscle vibration in patients with neck pain. Thus, vibration may be used to counteract sensorimotor impairment of the cervical spine. Potential underlying mechanisms are discussed.