English

Abstract

BACKGROUND Chronic neck pain is one of the common and painful musculoskeletal conditions. Determining the prevalence of nerve impairment in chronic neck pain patients is faced with various challenges such as individual perception and coping patterns of pain and likelihood to seek and receive treatment. We wanted to determine the prevalence of nerve impairment in patients of chronic neck pain and estimate the occupation, age, and gender wise involvement of nerve impairment in chronic neck pain patients. METHODS Population in and around Karad diagnosed with chronic neck pain by an orthopaedician fulfilling the inclusion criteria with prior consent were taken for the study. In the first half of the study, participants were assessed based on a questionnaire and a clinical assessment using Upper Limb Tension Tests following which the participants were assessed using nerve conduction velocity studies. RESULTS Participants having chronic neck pain and showing nerve dysfunctions were 32.14 %. Based on F min, frequency of nerve dysfunction within age groups showed the highest percentage that was 10.72 % in the age group of 39 - 42 years. Higher involvement was observed in males than females which was 23.21 %. Occupation wise nerve involvement for nerve dysfunction showed physically demanding occupations which had higher percentage of 14.28 %. CONCLUSIONS This study shows large population of chronic neck pain with no symptoms of nerve involvement but having nerve dysfunction and were not receiving any treatment for their condition thereby allowing it to progress into a radiculopathy. KEY WORDS Chronic Neck Pain, NCV Study, Cervical Radiculopathy, F Min Latency