【論文摘要】The Influence of Intervertebral Foramen and Disc Structures Upon Neck Muscle Pain Threshold and Tolerance

【論文摘要】頸部肌肉疼痛閾值與椎間盤結構關係之影響

張紫陌(Tzu-Mo Chang) ； 陳浩瑋(Hao-Wei Chen) ； 胡世珩(Shih-Heng Hu) ； 盧昱如(Yu-Ru Lu) ； 林姵君(Pei-Jun Lin) ； 李育銘(Yu-Ming Li) ； 胡學丰(Hsueh-Feng Hu) ； 吳錫昆(Shyi-Kuen Wu)

《物理治療》 45卷2期 (2020/06) Pp. 186-187

https://doi.org/10.6215/FJPT.202006.P65

摘要

Background and Purpose: Neck pain has been a prevalent symptom due to myofascial and muscle tightness. Myofascial tightness patients usually adopt a poor posture, which causes the intervertebral foramen and disc to narrow and compresses the nerves, and lead the neurological symptoms. The purpose of this study was to compare the disc height as well as the size of the intervertebral foramen before and after muscular treatment in myofascial pain subjects. Methods: A total of 15 subjects with neck symptoms were recruited in this study, and the age of the participants ranged from 20 to 40 years old. The radiography system was used to capture the vertebral structures of subjects in resting position. The disc height and intervertebral foramen were identified using the SigmaScan software (SPSS Inc.,Chicago, USA). The evaluation testing system was used to measure the pain threshold and tolerance of three neck muscles. Deep friction massage was applied perpendicularly to the direction of the muscle fibers, and the 12 treatment sessions were performed within 8 weeks, at a frequency of at least twice a week. Results: The mean anterior and disc heights were 0.54 ± 0.09 cm and 0.53± 0.08 cm, respectively. Those did not show significant difference across the treatment (p ＞ 0.05). Pain threshold improved from 137.7 ± 340.3 g before treatment to 978.3 ± 500.7 g (p ＜ 0.05), and the pain tolerance improved from 922.1 ± 609.1 g to 1659.5 ± 721 g (p ＜ 0.05) after treatment. The mean area of intervertebral foramen was 2.05± 0.27 cm^2 before the treatment, and 2.84 ± 0.59 cm^2 after treatment (p ＜ 0.05). Conclusion: Based on the findings of this study, the statistical increased foramen area may be related to the flexible neck muscles after treatment. The neck posture became better and reformed the intervertebral foramen into a lager oval shape. On the other hand, the increase of intervertebral foramen area indicated lesser chance of nerve root compression, and may be associated with the improvement of muscle pain threshold and tolerance. Clinical Relevance: The conclusion of this research may act as a reference for clinical evaluation, aiding in the prevention of neck pain symptoms as well as other related diseases.