Spinal Mobility and Neck Awareness in Academics with Chronic Neck Pain

Aim: The aim of this study is to investigate spinal mobility, cervical lordosis, neck awareness, neck disability level and fear of movement in academics with chronic neck pain. Method: Our descriptive study was carried out with the participation of 106 academics with chronic neck pain, 74 female and 32 male who were between the ages of 25 and 57 and who were working in the faculties and colleges of a university in Turkey. The participants were first given descriptive information forms and their personal information was taken. Fremantle Neck Awareness Questionnaire was applied to evaluate how the participants perceived their necks and their proprioceptive awareness. The participants' fear of movement and injury was evaluated by using Tampa Scale of Kinesiophobia. Cervical lordosis was evaluated with flexible ruler. Goniometric measurement was made to evaluate spinal mobility. Independent groups t-test and one way ANOVA parametric tests were used in the statistical analysis of the data. Results: It was found that the participants had mild neck disability level. Neck awareness was found to be slightly decreased. It was found that the academics had high kinesiophobia and kinesiophobia was found to be associated with the severity of pain. In our study, a significant decrease was found with the increasing age in the range of motion of the cervical region in all directions, except for flexion (p<0,05). It was found that the cervical lordosis of the individuals was within the range accepted as normal and that there was no association between the intensity of pain and cervical lordosis. It was found that the angle of cervical lordosis was not influenced by gender and did not show a statistically significant difference between adult age groups (p<0,05). Discussion: Chronic neck pain is more common in female academics. Severe pain affects neck proprioception and perception and decreases awareness. Fear of movement is positively associated with the severity of pain. No association was found between pain severity and cervical lordosis. Key Words: Chronic neck pain, neck awareness, spinal mobility, cervical lordosis, academician.