A Randomized Controlled Trial on the Efficacy of Exercise for Patients With Chronic Neck Pain

Study Design. A randomized controlled trial with sin-gle-blind outcome assessments. Objective. To evaluate the efficacy of a neck exercise program in patients with chronic neck pain. Summary of Background Data. The effect of exercise for patients with chronic neck pain has been investigated in a number of studies. The efficacy is, however, ques-tionable. Methods. A total of 145 patients were randomly allo-cated into an exercise (n 67) and a nonexercise (control) group (n 78). Patients in the control group were given infrared irradiation and neck care advice. In addition to infrared irradiation and advice, patients in the exercise group had undergone an exercise program with activa-tion of the deep neck muscles and dynamic strengthenin