Relationship between Functional State of Cervical Spine, Fear of Movement and Neck-Shoulder Muscle Pain Threshold in Office Workers in The Aspect of Gender

Abstract

Background. Neck and shoulder pain is one of the most common problems of the musculoskeletal system (De Meulemeester et al., 2017). Work-related neck and shoulder pain is one of the most important and every year increasing problems in ofce workers (Cagnie et al., 2013). Purpose. To determine the relationship between functional state of cervical spine, fear of movement and neck-shoulder muscle pain threshold in ofce workers in the aspect of gender. Methods. Thirty six individuals voluntarily participated in the research (21 females, 15 males), who met inclusions criteria. We assessed subjective functional state of cervical spine, fear of movement and neck-shoulder muscle pain threshold on both sides. Results. Females had greater neck disability than males (females – 12.24 ± 3.75 scores, males – 11.27 ± 3.28 scores, p > 0.05) and felt more pain-induced fear of movement during work (females – 23.05 ± 3.72 scores, males – 21.8 ± 2.37 scores, p > 0.05). Males’ neck-shoulder muscle pain threshold on both sides was higher than that of females (p < 0.05). Conclusions. There was no difference between sedentary females and males’ neck disability and fear of movement. Sedentary males had signifcantly higher neck-shoulder muscle pain threshold compared to females. There were moderate correlations between male neck disability and right supraspinatus muscle pain threshold, but we did not fnd signifcant correlations between female results. There were moderate correlations between females’ fear of movement at work and left infraspinatus muscle pain threshold, while between males there were moderate correlations between fear of movement at work and both middle trapezius muscle and right infraspinatus muscle pain thresholds.

Keywords: ofce workers, neck disability, fear of movement, neck-shoulder, pain threshold.