Effectiveness of exercise therapy in reducing pain and disability in athletes with chronic nonspecific neck pain

Aims and background: Chronic neck pain is a common problem and is often associated with changes in sensory-motor functions such as decreased neck proprioception, altered neck muscle coordination, and increased postural fluctuations. The aim of this study was the effectiveness of exercise therapy in improving chronic non-specific neck pain in athletes in Khorramabad. Methods and Materials: The present study was a pre-test-post-test clinical trial with an intervention group and a control group. Thirty athletes with chronic neck pain were purposefully selected and randomly divided into two groups of exercise therapy (n = 14) and control (n = 15). Evaluation of neck pain and disability was performed before and immediately after eight weeks of 3 sessions (15 minutes) of rehabilitation exercises by Visual Analog Scale (VAS) and Neck Disability Index from both intervention and control groups, respectively. Data were analyzed using covariance tests at the level of α = 0.05. Results: The results showed that the pain intensity (P≤0.001) and functional disability (P≤0.001) after eight sessions of training in athletes with chronic nonspecific neck pain were significantly reduced. Conclusion: Rehabilitation exercises intervention including stabilizing and strengthening the neck improves pain in athletes with chronic neck pain and disability, so it is recommended that rehabilitation exercises be used as a suitable and practical method in treating athletes with chronic non-specific neck pain.