Relationship between Pain, Functional Disability, Proprioception, and Scapular Muscle Strength in Patients with Chronic Mechanical Neck Pain

Abstract Background: Chronic mechanical neck pain (CMNP) is an increasing health problem, causing functional disability in large populations. Aim of Study: The aim of this cross-sectional and correla-tional study was to investigate the relationship between pain, disability, proprioception, and scapular muscle strength in pa-tients with chronic mechanical neck pain. Material and Methods: Twenty-three patients of both gen-ders were included in this study. Their mean age was 34.93± 7.93, and their mean BMI was 27 .80±5.39. They were referred by orthopedic surgeons with a diagnosis of CMNP. All subjects were assessed for pain intensity using the Arabic version of the numeric pain rating scale, function and disability using the Ar-abic version of the neck disability index (NDI), cervical propri-oception using an inclinometer to calculate the joint position error sense (JPE), and scapular muscle strength of the serratus anterior, upper, middle, and lower trapezius using a hand-held dynamometer (HHD). A correlation analysis was conducted between the outcome measures using the Spearman Rho co-efficient. Results: A significant positive correlation between pain and the neck disability index was found, while right serratus ante-rior strength was negatively correlated with pain and the neck disability index. Right upper trapezius strength was negatively correlated with the neck disability index. strength of the right middle trapezius was positively correlated with joint position error of flexion (ps0.05). No significant relationships were found between pain and proprioception (p>0.05). Conclusion: The functional disability of patients with CMNP is correlated with the degree of pain and strength of the upper trapezius and serratus anterior and should be considered in the assessment, while cervical proprioception does not seem to be correlated with the measured outcome variables.