Isokinetic Assessment of Wrist Muscle Performance Among Egyptian Physical Therapy Students With Chronic Non-Specific Neck Pain

BACKGROUND:

Although it is widely acknowledged that chronic non-specific neck pain is linked to hand disability as previously studied on dentists and ministry of health care stuff, there is still a gap in illustrating the effect of chronic non-specific neck pain on Egyptian physical therapy students' functional ability of wrist in the upper limb. However, the assessment of extensor / flexor wrist strength ratio has only recently gained attention. Furthermore, there is limited research investigating the strength control ratio that incorporates both concentric and eccentric muscle actions, and additional scientific evidence is needed to establish the relationship between chronic non-specific neck pain and upper limb disability. This study will be conducted to set new assessment and rehabilitation goals. This will subsequently be translated into home therapy program, contributing to decrease the burden of neck pain economically and on health care management.

Our study aims to evaluate peak torque of wrist extensor and flexor muscle/ body weight and extensor / flexor wrist ratio and wrist extensor and flexor muscle endurance among Egyptian physical therapy students with non-specific neck pain. Torque results are adjusted for body weight and compared to normative data for the gender and activity specialty to determine whether the unaffected limb is strong enough to act as a reference for the afflicted limb also compared between right- and left-handed subjects.

HYPOTHESES:

• There will be no significant effect of chronic non-specific neck pain on peak torque of wrist extensor and flexor muscles /body weight.
• There will be no significant effect of chronic non-specific neck pain on extensor / flexor wrist ratio.
• There will be no significant effect of chronic non-specific neck pain on wrist extensor and flexor muscles endurance.