The effect of The 4-week duration of the unilateral postero-anterior cervical mobilization in the treatment of unilateral neck pain

Abstract

This study investigated the effect of the ipsilateral unilateral postero-anterior (IUPA) cervical mobilization technique for treating unilateral neck pain over 4-week treatment course. Fifteen patients (1 male and 14 females, aged 24-56 years) completed the treatment course. The patients received IUPA cervical mobilization twice a week for 4 weeks. The measurement of pain intensity and cervical range of motion (ROM) took place every visit while the Neck Disability Index (NDI) scores were measured only at baseline and pre-treatment of the 8th visit. The global perceived effect (GPE) was measured at pre-treatment of the 5th and the 8th visits. One-way repeated measures analysis of variance and post-hoc analysis demonstrated significant improvement in pain at rest and on worst movement (p < 0.05). Paired t-test demonstrated significant difference in the NDI scores between baseline and the 8th visit (p < 0.001). Approximately 73 percent of patients reported their GPE as improved. No statistical significant differences in cervical ROM of each visit from baseline were found (p > 0.05). The results suggest that the IUPA cervical mobilization technique is effective in decreasing pain and disability while improving GPE in the patients with unilateral neck pain. The clinical effect on pain is cumulative with the subsequent applications of the mobilization. However, it is not effective in improving cervical ROM.