Effect of oculomotor exercises in patients with non-specific chronic neck pain and associated visual complaints.
Amita Aggarwal, Jidnyasa Thakur, Tushar J Palekar
PMID 38577396WHAT IT FOUND
Adding oculomotor exercises to conventional physiotherapy for chronic neck pain improved gaze stability and reduced visual complaints.
Pain and disability improved in both groups, but adding eye exercises did not provide extra benefit for these primary outcomes.
Key findings
01Both conventional physiotherapy and the addition of oculomotor exercises significantly reduced pain, disability, gaze instability, and visual complaints within each group.
02Between the two groups, adding oculomotor exercises resulted in significantly better gaze stability and fewer visual complaints compared to conventional treatment alone.
03There was no significant difference between the groups for pain or neck disability, meaning the eye exercises did not add benefit for these primary symptoms.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTsWhat it means for OTsWhat it means for SLPs
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What it does not show
The study did not assess neck range of motion. The experimental group had a longer treatment time due to the added exercises, which may have influenced results. The visual complaint measure was subjective. The sample size was small (32 participants) and short-term (3 weeks).
Declared interests
The authors declared no conflicts of interest. No funding was received.
The easy way to misread this
Do not assume oculomotor exercises reduce neck pain or disability more effectively than conventional physiotherapy alone. The study showed no significant difference between the groups for these primary outcomes; the benefit was specific to gaze stability and visual complaints.