Article

Neck pain is one of the major public health problems, which has a great impact on people's lives. The purpose of this study was to
systematically review published studies conducted on the effect of different
exercise programs on activity, size, endurance, and strength of deep cervical
flexor (DCF) muscles in patients with chronic neck pain. METHODS: The PubMed,
Science Direct, OVID, Google scholar, Cochrane Library,
and Physiotherapy
Evidence Databases were searched to determine relevant articles published from
1990 to March 2016. The articles were qualitatively assessed based on the
Physiotherapy Evidence Databases scale for randomized controlled trials studies.
RESULTS: Nine articles were identified and evaluated in the final analysis. Four
studies had moderate quality, and five studies had good quality. From those nine
studies, eight studies gave support to the effectiveness of specific low-load
exercise training on DCF muscles parameters, while one study reported no
significant difference between this exercise and other cervical exercise programs. CONCLUSION: The results of reviewed studies are in favor of specific
low-load craniocervical flexion exercise, which seems to be a highly effective
exercise regimen compared to other types of exercises in improving DCF muscles
impairments in patients with chronic neck pain.

Langue : ANGLAIS