Effectiveness of Osteopathic Treatment Versus Modified Cervical Exercise Therapy in Patients with Text Neck Syndrome

Abstract

Text neck syndrome is a stress/overuse injury in the neck caused by leaning forward for extended periods of time, such as when reading and texting on a cellphone, and has been linked to stress injuries. The primary cause of the disorder is the weight of the head which while bending it forward or looking down at a 45 to 60 degree angle during texting produces around 50 to 60 pounds of stress on the neck, increasing pressure over time and causing damage. While the majority of treatment is mostly based on. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the effectiveness of treatment between osteopathic intervention and modified cervical exercise therapy program among text neck syndrome patients. In total, seventy two patients were selected based on inclusion/exclusion criteria out of which 6 dropped out. In the end, 66 patients were randomly were allocated into two groups namely, the osteopathic treatment group(n=33) and modified cervical exercise group(n=33). The treatment program was followed for 3 weeks and the patients were evaluated for Numeric Pain Rating Scale(NPRS), Neck disability index(NDI) , Cervical range of motion as well as cranio-vertebral angle to measure the treatment effectiveness. Paired t-test showed significant differences in both groups between variables mean scores from the baseline readings after three weeks of intervention. Statistical significant differences were observed in the mean scores for all the outcome measures including NPRS, Cervical ROM, Craniovertebral angle and NDI. The result of the study suggests that Osteopathic treatment technique along with modified cervical exercise therapy is more effective than modified cervical exercise alone in treating text neck syndrome patients(p<0.05).