The effect of feedback respiratory exercise on muscle activity, craniovertebral angle, and neck disability index of the neck flexors of patients with forward head posture.
Jeong-Il Kang, Dae-Keun Jeong, Hyun Choi
PMID 27799674WHAT IT FOUND
After two weeks, feedback breathing exercise and McKenzie exercise changed neck muscle activity, raised the craniovertebral angle and lowered neck disability in people with forward head posture.
Feedback breathing changed SCM activity and neck disability more than McKenzie.
Key findings
01Both groups changed SCM activity, scalenus anterior activity, craniovertebral angle and NDI after intervention.
02The paper reports between-group differences for changes in SCM activity and NDI.
03The feedback respiratory exercise group had post-test SCM %MVIC of 59.8 and NDI of 12.3, while the control group had 49.2 and 14.9.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTs
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What it does not show
The study included only 24 patients from one medical institution, so results may not apply to other groups. The paper does not describe random allocation, blinding or allocation concealment. Group sizes are inconsistent: the methods report 13 experimental and 12 control, while the table reports 13 experimental and 11 control. The intervention lasted only two weeks, so longer-term effects are unknown. Medications and daily habits were not controlled, which may affect neck muscle activity and disability scores. The paper does not state a pre-specified primary outcome, so the reported between-group findings for SCM and NDI cannot be treated as a pre-registered primary result.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude feedback breathing exercise is superior for forward head posture overall. The paper reports between-group differences for SCM activity and neck disability, not for craniovertebral angle, and the study was small and not described as randomized.