The Effect of Mobilization of an Asymptomatic Cervical Spine on Shoulder Pain, Shoulder Range of Motion and Shoulder disability in Patients with Shoulder Pain

Introduction: Shoulder pain is a common complaint for individuals of all ages and activity levels with a prevalence ranging from 7% to 34%.Along with involvement of shoulder joint, dysfunction at the cervicothoracic spine and the adjacent ribs (also called the shoulder girdle) is considered to predict the recurrence and poor outcome of shoulder complaints. When shoulder joint is highly irritable, manual therapy cannot be given to it directly. Changes in the axio-scapular muscle activity during low-load functional tasks have been shown in individuals with chronic neck pain, which play an indirect role in shoulder biomechanics. Therefore, cervical spine mobilization techniques could be used during therapy to affect the more peripheral symptoms.

Materials and method: 60 patients with shoulder pain were randomly divided into 2 groups of 30 patients each. Group A received lateral and postero-anterior Maitland’s mobilization of the C5, C6 and C7 spinous processes along with Short Wave Diathermy (SWD) to the shoulder while Group B received SWD to the shoulder alone for 5 days. Passive range of motion of the shoulder using a universal goniometer, Pain on VAS and a Shoulder Pain and Disability Index scale were assessed pre and post treatment.

Conclusion: Mobilization of the asymptomatic cervical spine lead to a significant reduction of pain, significant increase in the overall shoulder ROM and a reduction in the functional disability after 5 days of treatment in individuals with shoulder pain. It has a lasting effect on improvement in functional disability. When two groups were compared (SWD + mobilization v/s SWD alone), no one group was statistically better than the other.