The effects of neural mobilization on cervical radiculopathy patients' pain, disability, ROM, and deep flexor endurance.

BACKGROUND

Cervical radiculopathy (CR) is a disease of the cervical spine and a space-occupying lesion that occurs because of pathological problems with cervical nerve roots. Nerve root injury to produce functional disability.

OBJECTIVE

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of neural mobilization with manual cervical traction (NMCT) compared with manual cervical traction (MCT) on pain, functional disability, muscle endurance, and range of motion (ROM) in individuals with CR patients.

METHODS

A blinded randomized clinical trial was conducted. Thirty CR patients were divided into two groups - those who received NMCT and those who received MCT. The intervention was applied three times per week for eight weeks. It was measured in order to determine the pain and functional disability in patients with CR. The numeric pain rating scale (NPRS), neck disability index (NDI), ROM, and deep flexor endurance of patients were measured prior to the experiment, four weeks, and eight weeks after the experiment to compare the time points. A repeated-measures analysis of variance was used to compare differences within each group prior to the experiment. And Bonferroni test was performed to examine the significance of each time point.

RESULTS

There were significant differences within each group prior to the intervention, four weeks after the intervention, and eight weeks after the intervention in NPRS, NDI, ROM, and deep flexor endurance (P< 0.05). NPRS and NDI more decreased, and, ROM and deep flexor endurance increased in the NMCT group than the MCT group (P< 0.05).

CONCLUSIONS

These results suggest that the NMCT can pain relief, recovery from neck disability, ROM, and deep flexor endurance for patients with CR.