The effect of one session muscle energy technique on pain, range of motion and proprioception in patient with chronic non-specific neck pain

Neck pain is one of the most common musculoskeletal problems which can affect the quality of life, family, health and the individual’s occupation. Investigation of different treatment techniques in managing neck pain is essential to reduce such expenses. One of the most effective treatments for musculoskeletal disorders is the muscle energy techniques. The present study was conducted to survey the effects of these techniques on neck pain, Range of Motion (ROM) and proprioception in patients with nonspecific chronic neck pain.
In a semi-experimental pre-post designed study, 31 patients with the age range of 18-40 years old were selected from clientele of a physiotherapy clinic with nonspecific chronic neck pain, using available non probability convenience sampling method. Pain intensity, cervical ROM, and cervical position sense error were measured using, Visual Analogue Scale (VAS), universal goniometer, and head repositioning accuracy, respectively. All variables were measured one week prior to the study, before, and immediately after the intervention and one week afterwards. Three trials of muscle energy technique were applied to the participant’s neck as the study intervention. Repeated measures of ANOVA was used to analyze the data. The level of significance was set at P
The mean pain intensity reduced from 3.18 to 1.76 immediately after treatment and to 1.85 a week later (P A session of muscle energy technique on nonspecific chronic neck pain patients can reduce the pain and increase the ROM and decrease the proprioception absolute error.