Abstract
The purpose of this study is to assess the beneficial effects of a far-infrared-emitting collar (FIRC) on the management of neck disorders. A neck disorder is generalized as neck muscle pain and its relative mental disorders because the etiologies of the neck’s multidimensional syndrome are either muscle impairment or psychiatric distress. This is the first study to determine the efficacy of a FIRC by evaluating objective physical evidence and psychometric self-reports using a parallel-arm randomized sham-controlled and single-blinded design. In this trial, 60 participants with neck disorders were observed at baseline and post-intervention. Compared to the placebo group after a 30-min intervention, the FIRC demonstrated a statistically significant biological effect in elevating skin temperature and promoting blood circulation with p-values 0.003 and 0.020, respectively. In addition, FIRC application significantly reduced neck muscle tension, relieved pain, ameliorated fatigue, improved depression, and decreased anxiety. The FIRC could therefore be a potential treatment for neck disorders.
Highlights
Far-infrared (FIR) ray is an invisible light with an electromagnetic radiation wavelength of3–1000 μm, as defined by the division scheme of the International Commission on Illumination (CIE).Over the past two decades, the biological benefits of FIR have been studied and have served as a treatment of vascular-related disorders [1,2,3]
Neck muscle hardness in the far-infrared-emitting collar (FIRC) group exhibited a significant decrease from baseline to post-intervention (29.8 ̆ 4.5 N vs. 28.9 ̆ 4.3 N; p < 0.05), whereas no significant difference was found for the placebo group (Figure 1)
The muscle hardness barometer was used by the same investigator to measure neck muscle tone validly
Summary
Far-infrared (FIR) ray is an invisible light with an electromagnetic radiation wavelength of3–1000 μm, as defined by the division scheme of the International Commission on Illumination (CIE).Over the past two decades, the biological benefits of FIR have been studied and have served as a treatment of vascular-related disorders [1,2,3]. At a wavelength ranging between 4 and 14 μm [4,5,6], the FIR can trigger both thermal and non-thermal effects at the molecular level to affect the health of a whole living organism [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14]. FIR has generally been evaluated as an effective, safe, and non-pharmacologic alternative for promoting human health [8,9,10,11,12,13,14]. The multiple beneficial effects and the mechanism of FIR on pain relief and the modification of mental disorders remain poorly understood. Most studies undertook FIR therapy as a complementary treatment, only eliciting self-rating evaluations and lacking objective physical evidence. A high interest still exists in these aspects to clarify the efficacy of FIR therapy
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