Ultrasound

Non Specific Neck Pain

In recent years, the pattern of musculoskeletal injuries has been changing. Some authors say this is due to advances in technology and computers in the work place with subsequent changes in occupational tasks (Kenareh et al. 2021). Neck pain has become the second most common cause of musculoskeletal disability after low back pain (Saadat et al. 2012 and Saatchian et al. 2016). The incidence of neck pain ranges from 34% to 54% in different populations. In many cases, the basic pathophysiology of neck pain is unknown and as a result, it is referred to as non-specific neck pain. 

Recommendation: 

  • Continuous 1mhz
    • 1.5 -3 W/cm2
    • 3-30 mins
    • Frequency = 1x per day down to 1 x per week
    • Session 5-15 as required 
  • Combine with =
    • Mobilisations
    • Heat
    • Home exercises (including posture correction)
    • Acupuncture

Noori et al. (2020) reviewed the current literature assessing the effectivness of US in neck pain. They said the studies demonstrated significant pain relief with ultrasound in combination with other treatment modalities. However, only one of the studies demonstrated that the use of ultrasound was the cause of the statistically significant improvement in pain intensity on it’s own.

In 2021 Qing et al. did another meta analysis of ultrsound for neck pain and found that:

  1. Seven studies compared therapeutic ultrasound plus other treatments vs the other treatments alone. Therapeutic ultrasound yielded additional benefits for pain but did not have a better effect on disability or quality of life when it was combined with other treatments.
  2. Five studies compared therapeutic ultrasound with sham or no treatment, the pooled data showed that therapeutic ultrasound significantly reduced pain intensity.
  3. No adverse events of therapeutic ultrasound were reported in the included studies.

In 2021 Kenareh et al. compared ultrasound and laser in the treatment of non specific neck pain. All of their patients had had symptoms for more than 6 months.

They assessed Visual analogue scale (VAS), Neck Disability Index (NDI), Neck Pain and Disability Scale (NPDS) and Bournemouth Questionnaire (BQN) scores.

Ultrasound was applied at 3W/cm2 at 2 MHz the treatment was described as a 30 minute session for 10 x over 2 weeks.

Both the ultrasound and laser groups showed significant improvements (the laser group did better). They concluded:

“US reduced chronic nonspecific neck pain and improved functional scales related to neck pain”