Effectiveness of Suboccipital Muscle Inhibition Technique and Positional Release Technique on Craniovertebral angle and Pain in Individuals with Text Neck Syndrome- A Randomized Clinical Trial

The use of smartphones is a global trend, and is an essential tool in our everyday lives. In addition to making calls, it also includes various technologies like SMS, internet access, photography, Bluetooth, low-end compact digital cameras, video-cameras, high internet capabilities, etc. Despite taking into consideration of the ease it has brought, smartphone has its negative effects that has resulted in behavioral addictions. The text neck syndrome, is the term coined by Dr. Dean L. Fishman, an US Chiropractor for a repetitive stress injury caused by long hours of forward flexion of head while use of smartphones. The term thus describing the pain and the damage it has caused to the muscles by looking down at cell phones with poor posture repeatedly or for long periods. People usually have their head hung low in a flexed position while using their smartphones for prolonged periods of time and over use of phones for various tasks.  Senthil Kumar et al suggested that 33% of smartphone users use the head-to-front posture while using smartphones. The most common symptoms are Neck pain, stiffness, and soreness. The additional symptoms are Radiating discomfort, upper back pain, shoulder pain, headache, tingling, numbness in the hands and many more.  It was observed that the presence of trigger points in the suboccipital muscles of individuals with forward head posture, both in those experiencing symptoms and those without. Commonly used manual therapies to directly target these trigger points are suboccipital muscle inhibition technique and positional release technique. Sub occipital release is a technique applied to the craniocervical region, targeting the inhibition of suboccipital muscles to reduce stress on the deep upper cervical tissues. Positional Release Therapy (PRT) is a safe and useful technique for treating elicited myofascial trigger points. Various techniques have been studied for their effect on text neck syndrome like self-management corrective exercises, acupuncture, Pilates, progressive resisted exercises, Kinesio taping and many more. As per our knowledge the sub occipital muscle inhibition technique and positional release technique are commonly used methods for treating pain, and are effective in their own ways. Medical literature lacks clinical/evidence-based articles on the effects of both sub occipital inhibition technique and positional release technique on text neck syndrome. This study is to compare the effectiveness of the Sub occipital muscle inhibition technique and the positional release technique on craniovertebral angle and pain in individuals with text neck syndrome.

Each treatment protocol will be given for 3 days per week for 2 weeks. pre and post values of the Craniovertebral angle and Pain will be recorded for comparison.