Assessing effects of a semi-customized experimental cervical pillow on symptomatic adults with chronic neck pain with and without headache.

OBJECTIVE

To determine the effects of a semi-customized experimental cervical pillow on symptomatic adults with chronic neck pain (with and without headache) during a four week study.

DESIGN

A randomized controlled trial.

SAMPLE SIZE

Thirty-six adults were recruited for the trial, and randomly assigned to experimental or non-experimental groups of 17 and 19 participants respectively.

SUBJECTS

Adults with chronic biomechanical neck pain who were recruited from the Canadian Memorial Chiropractic College (CMCC) Walk-in Clinic.

OUTCOME MEASURES

Subjective findings were assessed using a mail-in self-report daily pain diary, and the CMCC Neck Disability Index (NDI).

STATISTICAL ANALYSIS

Using repeated measure analysis of variance weekly NDI scores, average weekly AM and PM pain scores between the experimental and non-experimental groups were compared throughout the study.

RESULTS

The experimental group had statistically significant lower NDI scores (p < 0.05) than the non-experimental group. The average weekly AM scores were lower and statistically significant (p < 0.05) in the experimental group. The PM scores in the experimental group were lower but not statistically significant than the other group.

CONCLUSIONS

The study results show that compared to conventional pillows, this experimental semi-customized cervical pillow was effective in reducing low-level neck pain intensity, especially in the morning following its use in a 4 week long study.