The Impact of Strengthening the Neck Muscles on the Pain Prevalence and Neck Disability among Office Workers at Qazvin University of Medical Sciences in 2021, Iran

Neck pain is one of the most common musculoskeletal disorders among office workers. This study aimed to investigate the impact of strengthening the neck muscles on pain prevalence and neck disability among office workers.

This interventional study was performed among 85 University office workers (female=50 and male=35). Participants were randomly divided into the two groups (exercise group=42 subjects and control group=43 subjects). The exercise intervention was performed for 12 weeks, five sessions per week, and each session lasted approximately 15 minutes in the experimental group. Evaluations were performed at baseline and after 12 weeks: demographic questionnaire, Nordic questionnaire for measuring neck pain prevalence, and Neck Disability Index (NDI) for measuring functional disability were applied. The neck pain prevalence and NDI were compared before and after the intervention using McNemar and paired t-tests.

47.05% and 40% of all participants reported neck pain during the last 12 months and the last seven days, respectively. The neck pain prevalence during the last seven days (P<0.05) and NDI (P<0.01) after exercise were significantly decreased comparing to the other group.

About half of the office workers suffer from neck pain, and exercise intervention can improve and reduce the prevalence of neck pain and NDI by strengthening neck muscles.