The effect of static neck flexion on mechanical and neuromuscular behaviors of the cervical spine

Effect of eight weeks of cervical stability exercise on flexion relaxation phenomenon, pain, and disability in patients with non-specific chronic neck pain

“…Second, it con rmed the main underlying mechanism of FRP (lack of core cervical stability) that was explained before. Therefore, stability exercise could optimize FRP via activating cervical deep muscles and providing adequate stability in the cervical spine [11,26]. Further studies are required to examine the effect of other interventions on altered FRP in NSCNP patients.…”

“…Moreover, pain can lead to the alteration of descending drives from supraspinal centers and result in more inhibitions of impaired muscles. Therefore, this process creates a defective cycle that increases pain and disability over time [26].…”

“…Therefore, seated posture was standardized in a neutral lumbar lordosis. Furthermore, each subject was asked to perform neck full exion and extension and the mid-position was set as the neutral head position [25,26]. The upper thorax was stabilized tightly by a belt at the level of T1-T7 spine to immobilize this region.…”

“…Before the test, all the cases had become informed about the protocol of the test and the starting neutral position was determined. Then, each subject was asked to maintain a neutral starting position for 4s (phase 1), complete cervical full forward exion for 4s (phase 2), sustain full exion for 4s (phase 3), and perform re-extension to starting position for 4s (phase 4) [26]. The protocol of the test was performed in three trials.…”

“…FRR values were calculated through dividing the maximum EMG in the re-extension phase by the average EMG in the relaxation phase [35]. Inverse FRR ≤ 40% was used to determine the occurrence of FRP [26]. These measurements were carried out both before and after the intervention.…”