Article

The objective of this study was to compare the effects of an isolated application of cervical spine
thrust joint manipulation vs. the application of cervical,
cervico-thoracic
junction and thoracic manipulation on neck pain, disability and cervical range of
motion in chronic neck pain. Design: Randomized clinical trial. Setting: Clinical
practice. Participants: Eighty-two patients (41 females) with chronic mechanical
neck pain. Interventions: Patients were randomly assigned to a cervical spine
manipulation group or a full manipulative group who received mid-cervical,
cervico-thoracic and thoracic joint manipulations. Measurements: Neck pain
intensity (11-point numeric pain rating scale), self-reported disability (Neck
Disability Index) and cervical range of motion were collected at baseline and one
week after the intervention by an assessor blinded to the allocation of the
patients. Results: A significant Group * Time interaction for Neck Disability
Index (P = 0.022), but not for neck pain (P = 0.612), was found: patients in the
full manipulative group exhibited greater reduction in disability than those who
received the cervical spine manipulation alone, whereas both groups experienced
similar decreases in neck pain. Patients in both groups experienced similar
increases in cervical range of motion (P > 0.4). No effect of gender was observed
(P > 0.299). Conclusions: In patients with chronic mechanical neck pain,
manipulation of the cervical and thoracic spine leads to a greater reduction in
disability at one week than after manipulation of the cervical spine alone, whereas changes in pain and range of motion are not affected differently.

Langue : ANGLAIS