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Is Thoracic Kyphosis Relevant to Pain, Autonomic Nervous System Function, Disability, and Cervical Sensorimotor Control in Patients with Chronic Nonspecific Neck Pain?
Moustafa, I.M.; Shousha, T.; Arumugam, A.; Harrison, D.E. Is Thoracic Kyphosis Relevant to Pain, Autonomic Nervous System Function, Disability, and Cervical Sensorimotor Control in Patients with Chronic Nonspecific Neck Pain? J. Clin. Med.2023, 12, 3707.
Moustafa, I.M.; Shousha, T.; Arumugam, A.; Harrison, D.E. Is Thoracic Kyphosis Relevant to Pain, Autonomic Nervous System Function, Disability, and Cervical Sensorimotor Control in Patients with Chronic Nonspecific Neck Pain? J. Clin. Med. 2023, 12, 3707.
Moustafa, I.M.; Shousha, T.; Arumugam, A.; Harrison, D.E. Is Thoracic Kyphosis Relevant to Pain, Autonomic Nervous System Function, Disability, and Cervical Sensorimotor Control in Patients with Chronic Nonspecific Neck Pain? J. Clin. Med.2023, 12, 3707.
Moustafa, I.M.; Shousha, T.; Arumugam, A.; Harrison, D.E. Is Thoracic Kyphosis Relevant to Pain, Autonomic Nervous System Function, Disability, and Cervical Sensorimotor Control in Patients with Chronic Nonspecific Neck Pain? J. Clin. Med. 2023, 12, 3707.
Abstract
There is great interest in thoracic kyphosis as it is thought to be a contributor to neck pain, neck disability, and sensorimotor control measures; though this has not been completely inves-tigated in treatment or case control studies. This case control design investigated participants with non-specific chronic neck pain. Eighty participants with a defined hyper-kyphosis (> 55°) were compared to 80 matched participants with normal thoracic kyphosis (< 55°). Participants were matched for age and neck pain duration. Hyper-kyphosis was further categorized into two distinct types: postural kyphosis (PK) and Scheuermann’s kyphosis (SK). Posture measures included formetric thoracic kyphosis and the craniovertebral angle (CVA) to assess forward head posture. Sensorimotor control was assessed by the following measures: smooth pursuit neck torsion test (SPNT), overall stability index (OSI) and left and right rotation repositioning accuracy. A measure of autonomic nervous system function included the amplitude and latency of skin sympathetic response (SSR). Differences in variable measures were examined using the Student’s t-test to compare the means of continuous variables between the two groups. Pearson correlation was used to evaluate the relationship between participant’s thoracic kyphosis magnitude (in each group separately and as an entire population) and their CVA, SPNT, OSI, head repositioning ac-curacy, and SSR latency and amplitude. Hyper-kyphosis participants had a significantly greater neck disability index compared to the normal kyphosis group (p < 0.001) with the SK group having greatest disability (p < 0.001). Statistically significant differences between the two kyphosis groups and the normal kyphosis group for all the sensorimotor measured variables were identified with the SK group having the most decreased efficiency of the measures in the hyper-kyphosis group, including: SPNT, OSI and left and right rotation repositioning accuracy. Also, there was a signif-icant difference in neurophysiological findings for SSR amplitude (entire sample of kyphosis vs. normal kyphosis, p < 0.001), but there was no significant difference for SSR latency (p = .07). The CVA was significantly greater in the hyper-kyphosis group (p < 0.001). The magnitude of the thoracic kyphosis correlated with worsening CVA (with the SK group having the smallest CVA; p < 0.001) and the magnitude of the decreased efficiency of the sensorimotor control measures and the amplitude and latency of the SSR. The PK group, overall, showed the greatest correlations between thoracic kyphosis and measured variables. Participants with hyper-thoracic kyphosis exhibited abnormal sensorimotor control and autonomic nervous system dysfunction compared to those with normal thoracic kyphosis.
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