Background: Extracorporeal shock wave therapy (ESWT) is a novel, beneficial, and non-invasive treatment technique. In a number of orthopaedic disorders, ESWT may be used in place of surgery with comparable outcomes. ESWT is a popular adjunct to conventional therapy that has been demonstrated to reduce neck pain and pressure pain threshold. Purpose: The purpose of this study is to explore the effect of adding extracorporeal shockwave therapy to standradized physiotherapy on neck pressure pain threshold in patients with chronic non-specific neck pain (CNSNP) Subject and Methods: This study was a triple-blinded (participant, statistician and examiner), pretest-posttest controlled clinical trial. Subjects who met the selection criteria were divided randomly into 2 groups. Group A received only standradized physiotherapy in the form of stretching, isometric training, and a home program of postural correction. Group B received ESWT combined with standradized physiotherapy. The treatment last 4 weeks, two sessions per week, one session weekly for ESWT with standardized physiotherapy and other sessions for standardized physiotherapy alone. The outcome measure was pain in terms of NPRS and pressure pain threshold using pressure algometer. Results: There was a significant effect of adding ESWT to standradized physiotherapy on pain in terms of pressure pain threshold in patients with chronic non-specific neck pain (p < 0.001). Conclusion: These results suggested that Adding ESWT to the standradized physiotherapy program may be superior in improving pressure pain threshold compared to standradized physiotherapy alone in patients with chronic non specific neck pain |
