May 20, 2003 — Women with chronic, nonspecific neck pain may find some relief from strength or endurance training, according to a study in the May 21 issue of The Journal of the American Medical Association. According to background information in the article, “neck pain has been the most common chief complaint among working-aged women visiting their physicians. In a Canadian study, 54 percent of the general population had experienced neck pain during the past six months, and approximately 5 percent were highly disabled by neck pain.”

Jari Ylinen, M.D., from the Jyvaskyla Central Hospital, Jyvaskyla, Finland, and colleagues investigated the effect of intensive isometric neck strength training and lighter endurance training of neck muscles in rehabilitation of women with chronic, nonspecific neck pain. A total of 180 female office workers were recruited from various workplaces through their respective occupational health care systems to participate in the study. They ranged in age from 25 to 53 years, had full-time jobs, were motivated for rehabilitation, and had constant or frequently occurring neck pain for more than six months.

The participants were randomly assigned to either two training groups or to a control group, with 60 patients in each group. The endurance training group performed dynamic neck exercises, including lifting the head up from lying down (on their back; supine) or face-down (prone) positions. The strength training group performed high-intensity isometric (muscular contractions against resistance) neck strengthening and stabilization exercises with an elastic band. Both training groups performed dynamic exercises for the shoulders, upper body and arms with dumbbells. All groups were advised to do aerobic and stretching exercises regularly three times a week at home.

“Our study showed that participation in one-year endurance and strength training programs led to a considerable reduction in average neck pain and disability compared with the control group,” the authors report. “Neck function, including neck strength and range of motion (ROM), was improved significantly in both training groups compared with the control group.”

Maximal isometric neck strength had improved flexion by 110 percent, rotation by 76 percent and extension by 69 percent in the strength training group. The respective improvements in the endurance training group were 28 percent, 29 percent, and 16 percent and in the control group were 10 percent, 10 percent, and 7 percent.

“An important practical observation was that long-term benefits could be obtained by training as infrequently as twice a week,” the authors state in their concluding statements. “Aerobic and stretching exercises proved to be much less effective than controlled endurance and strength training of the neck muscles.”