Effects of fasciatherapy versus fascial manipulation on pain, range of motion and function in patients with chronic neck pain

Background: Neck pain is among the common musculoskeletal problem that hinders a person's daily activities. Fascial tightness is a familiar cause of chronic neck pain that is often neglected and can further cause neck disability and a limited range of motion.

Objective: The purpose was to compare the effects of fascia therapy and fascial manipulation on pain, range of motion and function in patients with chronic neck pain.

Methods: A randomized clinical trial was conducted from February to August 2022 in the Riphah Rehabilitation Centre, Lahore, Pakistan. Fifty-two participants of both genders, aged 18-40 years with chronic neck pain of at least 3-6 months were included. Group A (n = 26) received fascia therapy along with a conventional physical therapy protocol of hot pack, strengthening and stretching, while group B (n = 26) received the fascial manipulation treatment with conventional physical therapy. All the participants were assessed at baseline and after 3 weeks (3 sessions per week). Numeric Pain Rating Scale (NPRS), Neck Disability Index (NDI) and Goniometer (range of motions) were the outcome measures. SPSS 25 was used for the data analysis and normality of the data through the Shaphiro-Wilk test (p > 0.05), and parametric tests were applied.

Results: The mean age of group A was 24.82 ± 2.64 years, and group B was 24.17 ± 2.20 years. The independent t-test result showed no significant difference (p ≥ 0.05) in all parameters except in cervical extension and right-side bending (p < 0.05). At the same time, the pair-wise comparison showed significant results (p < 0.05) for all outcome measures in both groups.

Conclusion: DBM fascia therapy improved cervical extension and side bending (right) more than the fascial manipulation group.It is concluded that DBM fascia therapy shows more improvement as compared to other group.

Trial registration number: This study was registered at ClinicalTrials.gov ID: NCT05272111 on 09/03/2022.