title: Long-term effects of therapeutic exercise on nonspecific chronic neck pain: a literature review.
abstract: [Purpose] Nonspecific neck pain is a common musculoskeletal disease. Therapeutic exercise has been shown to improve pain and disability in short-term and midterm follow-ups. This study performed a literature review of the long-term effects of therapeutic exercise on subjects with nonspecific chronic neck pain. [Subjects and Methods] The databases of the CINAHL, MEDLINE, PEDro and PubMed were used. Randomized controlled trials (RCT) published from January 2000 to January 2014 and explicitly including a one-year follow-up were identified. [Results] Only six articles were included in this review. They had scores of 5 to 8 points on the PEDro scale, and the level of evidence was grade I. The study results show that the main exercises used were cervical strengthening and endurance training exercise. Short-term exercises (10 to 12 weeks) helped to improve the body function, structure, activity and participation immediately after the intervention, but not at the long-term follow-up. On the other hand, long-term interventions (1 year) resulted in improvements in body function and structure at the 3 year follow-up. [Conclusion] The results of the six high-quality studies suggest that long-term exercise have long-term benefits for patients with nonspecific neck pain in terms of body function and structure.
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Therapy and Graduate Institute of Rehabilitation Science, College of Medicine, Chang Gung University, Taiwan ; Healthy Aging Research Center, Chang Gung University, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Chih-Hsiu
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Cheng
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Therapy and Graduate Institute of Rehabilitation Science, College of Medicine, Chang Gung University, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Hao-Tsung
authors.initials: HT
authors.lastname: Su
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Therapy and Graduate Institute of Rehabilitation Science, College of Medicine, Chang Gung University, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Ling-Wei
authors.initials: LW
authors.lastname: Yen
authors.affiliation: Department of Physical Therapy and Graduate Institute of Rehabilitation Science, College of Medicine, Chang Gung University, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Wen-Yu
authors.initials: WY
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Graduate Institute of Early Intervention, College of Medicine, Chang Gung University, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Hsin-Yi Kathy
authors.initials: HY
authors.lastname: Cheng
keywords: Long-term effect; Nonspecific neck pain; Therapeutic exercise