title: Cervical range of motion and strength in 4,293 young male adults with chronic neck pain.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The correlation of cervical biomechanics and neck pain in young patients has, to date, only been described in terms of small cohorts. This study focuses on the correlation of chronic neck pain and cervical biomechanics.
  
  
  METHODS
  Neck pain, cervical range of motion (CROM) and maximal cervical torque were recorded in 746 patients with conservatively treated chronic neck pain and 3,547 participants of physiotherapy training without chronic neck pain aged 16-32 years.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The "neck pain" group had a highly significant (s < 0.001) higher neck disability index (44.7 vs. 10.4%), longer history of neck pain (3.47 vs. 0.59 years), higher pain intensity (VAS 5.93 vs. 0.93), higher pain frequency (VAS 6.98 vs. 1.09). No differences of CROM and maximal torque in the sagittal, frontal and transverse plane were found.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study describes the largest cohort of biomechanical data of the cervical spine in young adult recorded to date. The findings demonstrate that no correlation was found between neck pain, CROM and maximal torque in the study cohort. On this basis, we conclude that the CROM and maximal cervical torque should not be used as indicators to measure the progress of chronic neck pain in physiotherapy training and sports medicine for the young adult.
authors.affiliation: Department of Trauma Surgery, University of Duisburg-Essen, Essen, Germany. maxdaniel.kauther@uk-essen.de
authors.forename: Max Daniel
authors.initials: MD
authors.lastname: Kauther
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Piotrowski
authors.forename: Bjoern
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Hussmann
authors.forename: Sven
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Lendemans
authors.forename: Christian
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Wedemeyer
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001696:Biomechanical Phenomena / Q000502:physiology; D002574:Cervical Vertebrae / Q000503:physiopathology*; D059350:Chronic Pain / Q000503:physiopathology*; D004185:Disability Evaluation; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D019547:Neck Pain / Q000503:physiopathology*; D010147:Pain Measurement; D016059:Range of Motion, Articular / Q000502:physiology*; D019415:Torque