The Effect of Local and Comprehensive Corrective Exercises on Neck Muscle Strength In Girls With Upper Crossed Syndrome

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Department of Applied Humanities, Kashmar Higher Education Institute, Kashmar, Iran

2 Department of Sports Injuries and Corrective Exercises, Faculty of Sports Sciences, University of Isfahan, Isfahan, Iran

3 Department of Physical Therapy, School of Paramedical Sciences, Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran

Abstract

Purpose:
Upper crossed syndrome (UCS) is a common musculoskeletal disorder that is characterized by tightness and weakness of the muscles of the neck, shoulders, and upper back. This study aimed to the effect of local (shoulder girdle and pelvic girdle) and comprehensive corrective exercises on neck muscle strength in upper crossed syndrome.
Methods:
45 female students with upper crossed syndrome in a quasi-experimental study with pre-test-post-test were selected purposively and availablely from among female students with upper crossed syndrome living in the dormitory of Isfahan University and divided randomly in three groups including shoulder girdle (age 19.5±1.12 years) pelvic girdle (age 19.00±0.84 years), and comprehensive (age 20.07±1.71 years) exercises. Conspicuously, progressive corrective exercises were performed in all groups for eight weeks and three sessions per week for 30 to 70 minutes. The muscle strength neck flexion and extension was evaluated before and after the intervention by a hand-held dynamometer. The data was analyzed by SPSS software version 26 and repeated measures ANOVA test (p≤0.05).
Results:
The results showed significant increase between muscle strength neck flexion and extension in three groups after 8 weeks exercises (P≤0.05). The results showed that the effect of measurement time (F(2,42)=97.63, P<0.001, η2=0.69), the effect of group (F(2,42)=13.73, P<0.001, η2=0.39), and the interaction effect of time and group (F(2,42)=5.9, P<0.006, η2=0.21) on the mean flexion strength were significant at the five percent error level, and the effect of measurement time (F(2,42)=109.98, P<0.001, η2=0.70), the effect of group (F(2,42)=5.37, P<0.008, η2=0.21), and the interaction effect of time and group (F(2,42)=67.6, P<0.003, η2=0.32) on the mean extension strength were significant at the five percent error level.
Conclusion:
According to the finding of the present study, it can be the shoulder girdle, pelvic girdle, and comprehensive exercises can improve the flexion and extension strength in upper crossed syndrome and the simultaneously correction of posture abnormalities as a comprehensive is more effective in improving muscle strength neck instead of correction of each abnormality as an independent component.

Keywords

References

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Journal of Paramedical Sciences & Rehabilitation
Volume 14, Issue 4
February 2026
Pages 85-96

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