Cervical Activation During Elastic and Manual Resistance

Not Applicable

Completed

Conditions: Cervical Pain

Interventions: Device: Neck exercises using both manual and Thera-Band elasatic resistance

Registration Number: NCT02124304

Lead Sponsor: Sport and Spine Rehab Clinical Research Foundation

Brief Summary: Cervical pain is a condition that affects 14.6% of all adults annually. Of this annual prevalence, 37.3% experience persistent neck pain with periodic recurring episodes. The purpose of this study is to compare muscle activation patterns of the cervical musculature during exercises with elastic versus manual resistance in a neck pain and asymptomatic populations. Methods: A convenience sample of 15 healthy, physically active participants and 15 current patients diagnosed with non-radicular cervical pain will be recruited. Exclusionary criteria will include: current cervical or upper extremity injury (healthy group), history of neck surgery, corticosteroid treatment within the last two weeks, and radicular signs or symptoms. Surface electromyography will be used to quantify the activity level of the bilateral SCM, AS, Cervical Paraspinal (CP), and the Upper Trapezius (UT) muscles while performing a series of 6 exercises with elastic resistance using Thera-Band® Resistance Bands and manual resistance. The area will be prepped and surface electrodes placed on the corresponding muscles. The movement will be standardized by using the peak activation (PA) of each muscle during full flexion-extension movement to create a percentage of peak activation (%PA). The testing battery will consist of 6 exercises with elastic resistance and manual resistance, totaling 12 different trials. Each trial will involve 5 repetitions, each held for 5 seconds. The exercises will include cervical: extension, flexion, left rotation, right rotation, left side bending, and right side bending. The men will use the green and women will use the red Thera-Band® Resistance Band. The order of exercises will be randomized in to two parts to minimize the effect of fatigue. First, cervical flexion and extension with manual and elastic resistance will be randomized. Secondly, the remaining 8 exercises will be randomized. Following each exercise, the patient will rate their perceived level of exertion on the Thera-band® Resistance Intensity Scale for Exercise (RISE).

Detailed Description: Not available

Recruitment & Eligibility

Status: COMPLETED

Sex: All

Target Recruitment: 30

Inclusion Criteria

healthy physically active subjects (healthy group)
patients diagnosed with non-radicular cervical neck pain (neck pain group)
18-65

Exclusion Criteria

current cervical or upper extremity injury (healthy group)
history of neck surgery
corticosteroid treatment within the last two weeks
radicular signs or symptoms

Study & Design

Study Type: INTERVENTIONAL

Study Design: PARALLEL

Arm && Interventions

Group	Intervention	Description
Cervical Pain	Neck exercises using both manual and Thera-Band elasatic resistance	Thera-Band elastic and manual resistance neck exercises for neck strengthening
Healthy	Neck exercises using both manual and Thera-Band elasatic resistance	Thera-Band elastic and manual resistance neck exercises for neck strengthening

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Percent of Peak Activation (%PA)	One 1 hour session	8 muscles during 12 exercises were analyzed in 30 subjects, totaling 2880 data points. At the beginning of the study, peak activation (PA) was assessed for each muscle during full flexion-extension, used as a reference exercise. For each subject, the EMG signals of the muscles during the 12 exercises were smoothed, rectified and analyzed using a root-mean-square algorithm and the greatest activation of each muscle was used. After the PA for each muscle was determined, it was compared to the PA of the reference exercise for the respective muscle group, and expressed as a percent of the peak activation (%PA). In some cases the %PA is greater than 100%. This is possible as the PA was assessed during a full flexion-extension movement. During an exercise some muscles generated greater PA and therefore when the calculations were performed the %PA was greater than 100%. Due to the extensive amount of data, we have provided the Left Cervical Paraspinals %PA results for each exercise.

Secondary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Perceived Exertion	12 exercises during one 1 hour session	Thera-Band(R) RISE (Resistance Intensity Scale for Exercise) Scale to measure amount of perceived exertion during resistance band exercises. Participants were asked to rate the intensity of an exercise on a scale from 0 to 10, 0 being no resistance and 10 being the maximum resistance.