The Effects of an Eight-Week Selected Therapeutic Exercises Course and Self-Treatment by Pamphlet Programs on the Rate of Chronic Neck Pain and Disability among Computer Users

Chronic neck pain is one of the most common problems among computer users. The aim of this research was to evaluate the effects of an eight-week selected therapeutic exercises course and self-treatment with pamphlet programs on the rate of chronic neck pain and disability among computer users. Out of a total number of 196 bank staff members, 66 men with chronic neck pain (mean age: 39.19 ±3.1 years) voluntarily recruited in this study. they were randomly allocated into three groups of selected exercise therapy (N = 18), self treatment with pamphlet (N = 23) and control (N = 25). Chronic neck pain and disability were measured by the Neck Pain and Disability Scale. For analyzing data, pretest-posttest measures were calculated. Then, analysis of variance (ANOVA) and Scheffe post hoc test were used to analyze the obtained data. Pearson's correlation coefficient test was used to determine the relationship between work experience and neck pain and disability rate of subjects. The results of this study revealed 42.85% of the subjects to be suffering from chronic neck pain. There were significant differences between decreased values of neck pain and disability between the three groups (P < 0.01). There was no significant relationships between neck pain, disability and work experience (P =0.086; r = 0.21). Generally, it can be concluded that compared to self- treatment by pamphlet program, the selected therapeutic exercises course under supervision of a trainer was beneficial in reducing chronic neck pain and disability.