Evaluation of FixaSpine and Mckenzie Exercises In Comparison with Postural Text Reminders on Neck Pain among Office Workers: A Pilot Study

Abstract

Background: Neck pain is a public health issue and the world's fourth-biggest cause of disability. Office workers are more affected by poor posture and different weight loads on the neck leading to the development of neck pain. FixaSpine is a wearable device allowing proper sitting or standing posture when using the computer. McKenzie exercises are inter alia used for decreasing neck pain, there are no studies on the combination of FixaSpine and McKenzie exercises. Objective: to evaluate the change in perceived neck pain before and after the combination of training with FixaSpine and performing McKenzie exercises among office workers in comparison to postural text reminders. Materials and methodology: a pre-post-interventional pilot study was carried out in Southern Sweden with 39 participants. The intervention group received training with FixaSpine and McKenzie exercises and the control group received postural text reminders for the duration of four weeks. The participants performed five days a week during working hours. The data was collected by Neck Pain and Disability Scale. Paired samples t-test and independent t-test were used for analysis. Results: a total of 39 participants (intervention group (n = 25) and control group (n = 14)) were included in the study. The intervention group showed a statistically significant difference in neck pain (p = 0.000) and in the control group, there was no significant difference in neck pain (p = 0.57). There was a significant difference in post-total NPDS scores across the groups (p = 0.002). The magnitude of the mean differences was very large (mean difference = -26.21, 95 % confidence interval: -42.12 to -10.3; Glass’delta = 1.23). Conclusion: There was a significant decrease in perceived neck pain measured before and after an intervention by a combination of training with FixaSpine and performing McKenzie exercises among office workers in comparison to postural text reminders. Further research is needed involving control groups (FixaSpine /McKenzie exercises). KEYWORDS: FixaSpine, McKenzie exercises, Neck load, Neck pain, Office workers, Posture.