Effect of long-term cervical extensor exercise program on functional disability, pain intensity, range of motion, cervical muscle mass, and cervical curvature in young adult population with chronic non-specific neck pain: a randomized controlled trial

Table 1 Demographics and baseline data of participants from two groups

Variables	Control group (n = 35)	Observation group (n = 35)	P value
Age (years)	29.46 ± 8.33	28.95 ± 7.86	0.703
Gender ratio (female/male)	1.50 (21/14)	1.92 (23/12)	0.647
BMI	26.18 ± 6.08	27.43 ± 5.78	0.744
Occupation proportion (quantities)
Student	25.7% (9)	31.4% (11)	0.167
Medical stuff	17.1% (6)	14.3% (5)	0.426
Manual worker	14.3% (5)	20.0% (7)	0.601
Office clerk	28.6% (10)	22.9% (8)	0.454
Teacher	14.3% (5)	11.4% (4)	0.362
Duration of neck pain (weeks)	20.15 ± 5.26	19.66 ± 6.15	0.807
Cervical curvature
Kyphotic	8 (22.9%)	10 (28.6%)	0.391
Straight	27 (77.1%)	25 (71.4%)	0.552
VAS	5.54 ± 1.01	5.31 ± 1.26	0.363
NDI (%)	35.45 ± 3.35	34.68 ± 3.03	0.206
CROM
Rotation	53.16 ± 10.03	55.08 ± 9.60	0.195
Side-bending	65.08 ± 15.22	63.82 ± 13.48	0.219
Extension-flexion (degrees)	13.62 ± 4.77	15.12 ± 5.48	0.109
CSAs of cervical extensors (mm²)
Summation of extensors	662.63 ± 178.23	635.06 ± 181.56	0.110

BMI: body mass index; VAS: visual analog scale; NDI: neck disability index; CROM: cervical range of motion; CSAs: cross-sectional areas

ISSN: 1749-799X