Flexion-Relaxation ratio of neck pain muscles and chronic neck pain in computer office workers

Abstract

Neck pain is a common musculoskeletal problem, whose occurrence is estimated around 30-50% of the adult population in general. One of the factors that can lead to the onset of this pain is the constant use of the computer. The change in the pattern of muscle activity of the flexor and extensor muscles is a characteristic of cervical pain that computer users seem to be associated with maintaining sitting posture with forward head posture and cervical flexion. Two important factors analysis to assess deficits in muscle activity are the flexion-relaxation phenomenon (FRP), which analyzes these changes in muscle activity patterns, and the flexion-relaxation ratio (FRR), considered an important marker of neuromuscular impairment. The objective of this study is to evaluate, through surface electromyography, the occurrence of the flexion-relaxation phenomenon and measure the flexion-relaxation ratio in extensor muscles of the cervical spine workers computer users with and without chronic neck pain and healthy individuals, not computer users. Will be assessed 60 subjects (20 computer users with chronic neck pain, 20 computer users without neck pain and 20 healthy subjects non computer worker). Individuals respond the Maastricht Upper Extremity Questionnaire and Neck Disability Index, and FRP and FRR will be analyzed using surface electromyography of the muscles of the Cervical Erector Spine and Upper Trapezius. The results of this study may lead us to understand the disorders that can lead to the onset of pain, and from there offer early interventions to minimize the development of musculoskeletal disorders caused by prolonged maintenance of posture sitting for long periods of work. (AU)