The Study On Treatment Of Neck Strain With Massage Therapy And Electro Thermal Heating Pad

ObjectiveNeck strain is a kind of acute and/or chronic tension that causes variety of pain and stiffness. If the pain is accompanied by arm pain, numbness or tingling, it may be due to nerve compression. In Traditional Chinese Medicine it is called as "cervical muscle strain". Cervical muscle strain can appear on the neck and shoulders, it may exhibit symptoms such as pain, stiffness, decreased range of motion, or tension headaches.It is usually caused by prolonged awkward position of the neck, prolonged cold draft, poor sleeping posture that strains the neck, carrying heavy objects on the neck, or any form of traumatic impacts. There are a variety of methods to treat cervical neck strain, and they include massage therapy (Tui Na), heat therapy, acupuncture, auricular acupuncture, ear acupressure, cupping, and blood-releasing therapy. Remedies used that have been shown to achieve satisfactory effect on reducing symptoms of cervical neck strain.Massage therapy (Tui Na) and heat therapy both are based on the theories of traditional Chinese medicine and Western medicine, a commonly practiced modality for its therapeutic benefits on bodywork. This research is to test if combining these two modalities can improve the efficacy significantly. The research will be based on literatures and clinical observations. The purpose of this study is to observe and analyze the clinical difference of massage therapy itself and combined treatment of massage therapy with heat and the different results on treating cervical neck strain.MethodsData was collected from61patient cases with cervical neck strain that came for massage therapy in a clinical environment. The groups were divided into one treatment group and one control group by random selection.31patients were assigned to the treatment group, and30patients to the control group. The treatments were done according to the literatures from the following:"Travell and Simmon’s Trigger Point Therapy","Clinical Massage Therapy: Understanding, Assessing and Treating Over70Condition","Tui Na" from People’s Health Publishing House2008edition and URSA Foundation Inc.’s "Treating the Upper and Lower Cervical Spine" to treat the cervical neck strain. The treatment group was treated with massage therapy and infrared heat, while the control group was treated with massage therapy only. Treatment was performed in one treatment setting. Scores of Visual Analog Scale (VAS), and Range of Motion (ROM) was recorded before and after the treatment to determine the efficacy between the two groups.Results1. In terms of improving cervical strain, after three courses of treatment, the pain score (VAS) and range of motion (ROM) in patients of the treatment group and the control group had varying degrees of changes, before and after, statistically significant (P<0.05) numbers were recorded for both groups. Which indicates that there was a significant difference between the treatment group and the control group of patients with cervical strain.2. From an observation of the overall treatment results, both groups had made improvements on for the cervical range of motion and decrease of pain for the neck. However, the treatment group had a higher improvement rate than the control group in the left and right side flexion range of motion, making a significant difference between the two groups (P<0.05). The data shows that massage therapy plus electric infrared heat pad had more improvement on the range of motion than massage therapy by itself for cervical strain treatments.3. On the efficacy evaluation, the treatment group had an efficacy rate of96.77%, and the control group had an efficacy rate of86.67%, the difference was statistically significant (P<0.05) between the two groups. This indicates that the infrared heat pad plus massage therapy had better results than massage only group.4. On the satisfaction evaluation, patients were more inclined to have a higher score with the massage therapy plus infrared heat pad treatment. The heat of the infrared heat pad along with massage therapy helps relieve strain on the cervical range of motion and reduce pain. For the remaining duration of the prognosis, the results of the treatment group were better than the control group. The treatment group had a higher satisfaction score than the control group. The results indicated statistical significant difference between groups of (P<0.05).ConclusionIn this research, the massage therapy plus infrared heat pad group had more improvement on cervical neck strain than the massage only group.