Correlation between cervical proprioception with the neck length and neck pain in patients of cervical spondylosis

Background: Cervical proprioception has been a major source of attention among the population of cervical spondylosis as it is associated with neck pain, whereas it can lead to alteration in physiological manifestations which enhance neck pain as a consequence of disturbed proprioception. Objective: To determine the correlation between cervical proprioception with neck length and neck pain in patients with cervical spondylosis. Methodology: It is a cross-sectional correlational study conducted at Innovative Health Concepts (IHC) and Pakistan Society for Rehabilitation for Differently-abled Lahore, in the duration of six months from November 2021 to March 2022. The sample size of n=130 participants was recruited and data was collected through non-probability purposive sampling. Patients diagnosed with cervical spondylosis aged 25 to 50 years with neck pain, decreased neck range of motion, and osteophytes formation were included. Whereas, vestibule basilar artery insufficiency or any systemic illness was excluded. Joint Position Error Test (JPET) for cervical proprioception assessment, Numeric Pain Rating Scale (NPRS) was used for neck pain, and lateral view X-rays were taken for neck length measurement. Data was analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (IBM-SPSS) version 22. Results: There was no significant association between proprioception except for left rotation (r=0.21, p=0.016) which showed a weak positive correlation. On the other hand, neck pain showed a significant strong positive correlation with flexion (r=0.88, p=0.002), moderate with extension (r=0.39, p=0.004), strong with right rotation (r=0.81, p=0.001) and left rotation (r=0.61,p=0.001) respectively. Conclusion: It was concluded that the population of cervical spondylosis has no correlation between cervical proprioception and cervical length. Whereas, a positive strong correlation was found between cervical proprioception and neck pain. Keywords: Joint position error test, Neck pain, Proprioception.