Effect of muscle energy technique and static stretching on pain and functional disability in patients with mechanical neck pain: A randomized controlled trial.
Apoorva Phadke, Nilima Bedekar, Ashok Shyam and 1 others
PMID 30931028WHAT IT FOUND
Both muscle energy technique and passive stretching reduced neck pain and disability after 6 days, but muscle energy technique plus the same conventional exercises produced greater improvement.
Key findings
01Both groups improved pain and disability from baseline to the end of day 6.
02Between groups, muscle energy technique showed greater change than passive stretching for pain (p = 0.020) and disability (p = 0.024).
03MET and stretching were added to the same strengthening exercises, pectoralis stretching and hot packs, so the contribution of either technique alone cannot be separated.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTs
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What it does not show
The study was small, with 28 participants analysed in each group, and the authors noted reduced statistical power. There was no control group, so the trial cannot show whether either treatment package was better than doing nothing. Both groups received the same strengthening exercises, pectoralis stretching and hot packs, so the effect of muscle energy technique or passive stretching alone cannot be separated. The outcome assessor was not blinded, which could have influenced the pain and disability scores. Follow-up was only to day 6, so long-term effects were not studied. The groups were not matched for age and sex. Intention to treat analysis was not used, and two participants from each group were excluded after they withdrew.
Declared interests
All authors declared no conflicts of interest.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that muscle energy technique alone caused the improvement. Both groups also received the same strengthening exercises, pectoralis stretching and hot packs, and there was no untreated control group, so the trial only compares two add-on programmes.