Highlights
- •The results showed that neck-specific exercises (NSEs) significantly benefited neck disability, self-efficacy, and health-related quality of life compared with the untreated group.
- •There was significant improvement over time in all outcomes for the NSE group, and mostly significant worsening over time for the untreated group.
- •The results indicated that NSEs were more beneficial than no intervention while on a waiting list for individuals with chronic whiplash-associated disorders.
Abstract
Objective
To determine whether 3 months of neck-specific exercises (NSEs) could benefit individuals
with chronic whiplash-associated disorder (WAD) who were on a waiting list (WL) for
treatment.
Design
A prospective, randomized controlled study.
Setting
Primary health care.
Participants
Individuals (N=41; 31 women, 10 men; mean age ± SD, 38±11.2y) with chronic (6–36mo)
WAD, grades 2 and 3, were analyzed.
Interventions
Patients were randomly assigned to NSEs or no treatment for 3 months.
Main Outcome Measures
Neck-specific disability (Neck Disability Index [NDI]), neck pain (visual analog scale),
general pain-related disability (Pain Disability Index [PDI]), self-perceived performance
ability (Self-Efficacy Scale [SES]), and health-related quality of life (EuroQol 5
dimensions [EQ-5D]) were measured.
Results
NSEs significantly improved the NDI, SES, and EQ-5D compared with WL (P<.01). There was significant improvement (P<.0001) over time in all outcomes for NSEs, and apart from the PDI, significant worsening
(P=.002–.0002) over time for the untreated group.
Conclusions
NSEs were more beneficial than no intervention while on a WL for individuals with
chronic WAD.
Keywords
List of abbreviations:
EQ-5D (EuroQol 5 dimensions), NDI (Neck Disability Index), NSE (neck-specific exercise), PDI (Pain Disability Index), SES (Self-Efficacy Scale), VAS (visual analog scale), WAD (whiplash-associated disorder), WL (waiting list)To read this article in full you will need to make a payment
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: October 26, 2015
Footnotes
Clinical Trial Registration No.: NCT01547624.
Disclosures: none.
Identification
Copyright
© 2016 American Congress of Rehabilitation Medicine. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
