Forward Head Posture Correction Versus Shoulder Stabilization Exercises Effect on Scapular Dyskinesia and Shoulder Proprioception in Athletes an Experimental Study

Abstract

Background: Forward head posture (FHP), the most common deviation fromthe normal curvature in cervical spine. Craniocervical flexor musclestrengthening is frequently used treatment for FHP. Scapular dykinesia(SD) is the alteration in the normal static or dynamic motion of thescapula during coupled scapulohumeral movements. Shoulder stabilizationexercises are an effective treatment for SD. As both FHP and SD arerelated to each other, the objective of the study was to find andcompare the effect of FHP correction and shoulder stabilizationexercises on SD and shoulder proprioception.Methods: 40 athletes (18-30yrs) were recruited. Subjects were randomlyallocated into two groups. Group A received deep neck flexorstrengthening and anterior scalene stretch, group B received shoulderstabilizing exercises. Paired t test and chi-square test were used tojudge the statistical significant difference. The level of significancewas set at p < 0.05. All data was analyzed using SPSS program version12.Result: No statistical significant difference was found between thegroups for the 4 outcome variables, but significant improvement was seenwithin the groups. Shoulder proprioception was found to be significantbetween the groups where group B (p =<0.001) showed better improvementthan group A (p = <0.017).Conclusion: Both FHP correction as well as shoulder stabilizationexercises were equally effective in correction of scapular dyskinesiaand shoulder proprioception. Shoulder stabilization exercises showedslightly better improvement than FHP correction group in reducingproprioception errors. Also neck strength values were found to beclinically significant for deep neck strengthening group.