Home-Based Telemedicine Management of Patients Affected by Chronic Neck Pain

Systematic reviews have concluded that exercises taught individually and prescribed to be performed at home, are effective in decreasing neck pain and avoiding recurrence of neck pain (re-exacerbations) if patients adhere to the home exercise program. Conversely, inadequate adherence to a home-based exercise program reduces the treatment's efficacy. Telemedicine is already employed in many fields of medicine to evaluate health status, treatment, education, and to monitor patients' care needs but not in management of the patients with chronic neck pain. Studies available in the literature have not yet clearly defined if a phone surveillance program is effective in decreasing pain in these patients. Conversely, we think that telemedicine may be a useful tool for physicians in management of chronic neck pain because it can increase adherence to home exercises program thus reducing neck pain and disability in these patients. To verify this hypothesis we perform this prospective randomized controlled study.

The study is performed in 100 consecutive patients with chronic non-specific neck pain referred to the outpatient facility of our Rehabilitation Department.

Patients have to be > 18 years and with neck pain duration more than 6 months. Exclusion criteria are: pain duration < 6 months, cognitive deficit, history of fracture or operations around the neck region, presence of inflammatory rheumatic diseases, neurological diseases that could lead to neck pain, infections or tumors, pregnancy, previous rehabilitation for neck pain undergone within the last 12 months, and inability to attend all exercise sessions of our outpatient rehabilitation program.

All patients have to complete, as outpatients, an exercise program consisting of 10 sessions, spread over a 2-week period (5 days/week), and including six stretching exercises for the neck.

Patients are instructed individually by a physical therapist on how to perform each exercise and, after the first rehabilitation session, are encouraged to exercise regularly at home. Written and illustrated material explaining the home exercises are provided to all patients.