the Effect of Respiratory Exercises on Pain, Disability, Proprioception and Forward Head Angle in Female Patients with chronic Neck Pain

Aims and Neck related dysfunction, especially chronic neck pain, has become considerably prevalent in society. Neck pain is the most prevalent pain in middle-aged women and is more common in women than men. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of respiratory exercises on pain, disability, proprioception and forward head posture in female patients with chronic neck pain.
Material and Thirty-six women with mean age of 35±3.4 years old with chronic neck pain were recruited. Pain, disability, proprioception and forward head posture angle were measured via visual analog scale, neck disability index, craniocervical joint repositioning (degree) test and craniovertebral angle, respectively before and after 8-weeks of respiratory exercise program.
Findings: Significant changes were observed in pain (P=0.014), disability (P=0.009), proprioception (P=0.016) and forward head posture (P=0.026) in women with chronic neck pain after an 8-week respiratory exercise program.
The results of this study showed that respiratory exercise is effective on pain and disability reduction and also on increasing proprioception accuracy and improvement of forward head posture in women with chronic neck pain. Therefore, as an exercise therapy supplement, using the respiratory exercises in order to help for treatment of signs and problems in patients with chronic neck pain is recommended.