Literature Review
Exercise Therapy for Office Workers With Nonspecific Neck Pain: A Systematic Review

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Abstract

Objective

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of various types of exercise for prevention and cure of nonspecific neck pain in office workers.

Methods

Publications between 1980 and April 2010 were systematically searched in various databases (PubMed, CINAHL Plus with full text, The Cochrane Library, Science Direct, PEDro, ProQuest, PsycNet, and Scopus). The following key words were used: neck pain, cervical pain, exercise, strengthening, stretching, endurance, office workers, visual display unit, visual display terminal, and computer users. A hand search of relevant journals was also carried out. Relevant randomized controlled trials were retrieved and assessed for methodological quality by 2 independent reviewers. The strength of the evidence was based on methodological quality and consistency of the results.

Results

Nine randomized controlled trials were included in this review, of which 6 were rated as high-quality studies. No exercise type was identified as being effective in the prevention of nonspecific neck pain in office workers. Strong evidence was found for the effectiveness of muscle strengthening and endurance exercises in treating neck pain. Moderate evidence supported the use of muscle endurance exercise in reducing disability attributed to neck pain.

Conclusion

Literature investigating the efficacy of exercise in office workers with nonspecific neck pain was heterogeneous. Within the limitations, for treatment of neck pain, either muscle strengthening or endurance exercise is recommended, whereas for reduction of pain-related disability, muscle endurance exercise is suggested. Further research is needed before any firm conclusions regarding the most effective exercise programs for office workers can be reached.

Section snippets

Search Strategy

Publications between 1980 and April 2010 were retrieved by a computerized search of the following databases: PubMed, CINAHL Plus with full text, The Cochrane Library, Science Direct, PEDro, ProQuest, PsycNet, and Scopus. The following key words were used: neck pain, cervical pain, exercise, strengthening, stretching, endurance, office workers, visual display unit, visual display terminal, and computer users. After the inclusion of the articles based on the selection criteria, references were

Search Strategy

A total of 14 articles on 9 trials were judged to meet the selection criteria. However, 5 articles were identified as double publications. The article with the highest methodological quality in each case of double publication was included.24 Thus, 9 publications were assessed for methodological quality and data extraction (Fig 1).

Quality Assessment

All articles had already had their methodological quality previously assessed using the PEDro scale (Table 1). Six studies were rated as high-quality studies with the

Discussion

Exercise interventions reported in this review included muscle strengthening, muscle endurance, stretching, and nonspecific exercises. Obviously, there are other types of exercise, such as proprioceptive reeducation, coordination, and stabilization exercises, which may be beneficial for nonspecific neck pain patients and are not included in this review.16

Conclusion

Nine RCTs investigating the effectiveness of exercise therapy for prevention and cure of nonspecific neck pain in office workers were reviewed and analyzed. The findings revealed strong evidence supporting the effectiveness of muscle strengthening and endurance exercises for treating neck pain. Moderate evidence indicated that muscle endurance exercise was effective for reducing disability attributed to neck pain. More high-quality studies in this area are needed. The design of future studies

Funding Sources and Potential Conflicts of Interest

No conflicts of interest were reported for this study. This work was funded by Chulalongkorn University Centenary Academic Development Project.

Practical Applications

  • Strong evidence supporting the effectiveness of muscle strengthening and endurance exercises for treating non-specific neck pain in office workers.

  • Moderate evidence supported the use of muscle endurance exercise for reducing disability attributed to neck pain in office workers.

  • More high quality studies in this area are needed.

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