Effectiveness of Massage of the Thoracic Region in Neck Pain

Not Applicable

Recruiting

• Conditions: Neck Pain
• Interventions: Other: Neck and thoracic massage; Other: Neck pain massage

• Registration Number: NCT06256016
• Lead Sponsor: University of Alcala

Brief Summary

Neck pain is a common disorder in industrialized countries. Manual therapy techniques have been commonly used in the treatment of this problem. Actually, there is no research work that has evaluated the work well of treatment with soft tissue techniques (massage) applied to the dorsal paravertebral muscle in the management of neck pain. The goal of this study (clinical trial) is to compare the efficacy of a massage protocol performed on the dorsal region in subjects with mechanical neck pain.

The researchers will compare:

A group that will be treated with a local protocol of cervical manual therapy and therapeutic exercise along with the treatment(massage) of the thoracic region.

Another group that will be treated only with a local protocol of cervical manual therapy and therapeutic exercise.

It is to see if the inclusion of treatment of the thoracic region improves the local intervention in cervical region.

Detailed Description

Not available

Study Timeline

• Study First Submitted: 2024-02-04
• Study First Submitted QC: 2024-02-12
• Study First Posted: 2024-02-13
• Study Start: 2024-04-04
• Status Verified: 2025-03
• Last Update Submitted: 2025-03-12
• Last Update Posted: 2025-03-13
• Primary Completion: 2025-04-15
• Study Completion: 2025-09-15

Recruitment & Eligibility

• Status: RECRUITING
• Sex: All
• Target Recruitment: 60

Inclusion Criteria

• Subjects with neck pain.
• Pain between 4 and 7 points according to a visual anological scale.
• Neck pain lasting more than three months

Exclusion Criteria

• Subjects who have suffered a whiplash injury.
• Subjects with neck pain and upper extremity pain.
• Subjects with a diagnosis of herniated disc.
• Subjects with fibromyalgia.
• Subjects with any cancer process.

Study & Design

• Study Type: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Design: PARALLEL

Arm && Interventions

Group	Intervention	Description
Neck and thoracic massage	Neck and thoracic massage	Subjects in this group will be treated with a massage protocol of the neck muscles and the posterior thoracic region.
Neck pain massage	Neck pain massage	Subjects in this group will be treated with a neck muscle massage protocol.

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Neck pain	Change from Baseline pain at 3 month	A Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) is one of the pain rating scales used for measure the intensity pain. The VAS is a straight horizontal line of fixed length, usually 100 mm.The ends are defined as the extreme limits of the parameter to be measured orientated from the left or "10" (worst pain) to the right (best pain) or "0".

Secondary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Pain catastrophizing	Change from Baseline pain at 3 month	Pain Catastrophizing Scale (PCS). The PCS is a 13-item instrumen that task participants to reflect on past painful experiences, and to indicate the degree to which they experienced each of 13 thoughts or feelings when experiencing pain, on 5-point scales with the end points (0) not at all and (4) all the time. The PCS total scores range from 0 - 52. 0 is the best result and 52 is the worst result.
Neck disability index	Change from Baseline pain at 3 month	This questionnaire has been designed to give us information as to how the neck pain are affecting the subject´s ability to manage in everyday life. The questionnaire has 10 items including pain, personal care, lifting, reading, headaches, concentration, work, driving, sleeping and recreation. It´s interpreted as a raw score, with a maximum score of 50 where "0" is not disability and 50 is the worst disability
kinesiophobia	Change from Baseline pain at 3 month	The Tampa Scale of Kinesiophobia (TSK) describe patient circumstances characterised by an "excessive, irrational, and debilitating fear of physical movement and activity resulting from a feeling of vulnerability to painful injury or reinjury. The TSK is a 17 item assessment checklist.The 17 item TSK total scores range from 17 to 68 where the lowest 17 means no or negligible kinesiophobia, and the higher scores indicate an increasing degree of kinesiophobia.
The Global Rating of Change (GRoC)	Change from Baseline pain at 3 month	It's a scale that assesses whether the patient condition has gotten worse, better, or stayed the same and to quantify the magnitude of that change, typically following treatment.Subjects will make global ratings of changes regarding their level of well-being from their neck pain since the initial examination on a 15-point self-report scale (from -7 to 7), where -7 is the worst possible value and 7 is the best possible value.

Trial Locations

Locations (1)

Physioterapy and Pain center research; 🇪🇸 Alcalá de Henares, Madrid, Spain