García-Luque Lourdes, Alcaraz-Clariana Sandra, Rodrigues-de-Souza Daiana Priscila, Carmona-Pérez Cristina, Garrido-Castro Juan Luis, Alburquerque-Sendín Francisco
Department of Nursing, Pharmacology and Physical Therapy, Faculty of Medicine and Nursing, University of Córdoba, Córdoba, Spain.
Maimonides Biomedical Research Institute of Cordoba (IMIBIC), Córdoba, Spain.
Physiother Theory Pract. 2025 Aug;41(8):1602-1611. doi: 10.1080/09593985.2025.2451200. Epub 2025 Jan 23.
Individuals with neck pain (NP) often experience altered muscle mechanical properties (MMPs), such as increased tone and stiffness. Myotonometry has become a reliable, noninvasive tool for measuring MMPs. However, the effect of movement and rest on MMPs in acute neck pain (ANP) individuals remains insufficiently explored.
This study aimed to evaluate how sequential movement and short-term rest influence the MMPs of neck muscles in subjects with ANP.
A case-control study was conducted with 37 subjects with APN and 37 matched healthy controls. Muscle mechanical properties were assessed by myotonometry at baseline, post-movement (after a motion assessment sequence), and post-rest. The outcome measures of MMPs were frequency or tone, stiffness, decrement, which is the inverse of elasticity, relaxation, and creep.
Subjects with ANP showed higher muscle tone, stiffness and decrement, and lower relaxation than controls, all with < .05. In the ANP group, decrement was the only property that showed a significant change after movement and rest, both with < .05. Reduced means values (m) with its standard deviation (SD) were observed post-movement ( = 1.35 Ø, SD = 0.03) and post-rest ( = 1.33 Ø, SD = 0.03) compared to baseline values ( = 1.43 Ø, SD = 0.04). The other MMPs remained stable across evaluation times ( > .05).
The evaluation of MMPs should be conducted prior to any mobility protocol to ensure that the results reflect the basal tissue characteristics in individuals with ANP, highlighting decrement as a sensitive marker of these changes.
颈部疼痛（NP）患者常出现肌肉力学特性（MMPs）改变，如肌张力和僵硬程度增加。肌动测量法已成为测量MMPs的可靠、非侵入性工具。然而，运动和休息对急性颈部疼痛（ANP）患者MMPs的影响仍未得到充分研究。
本研究旨在评估连续运动和短期休息如何影响ANP患者颈部肌肉的MMPs。
进行了一项病例对照研究，纳入37例APN患者和37例匹配的健康对照。在基线、运动后（运动评估序列后）和休息后，通过肌动测量法评估肌肉力学特性。MMPs的结果指标为频率或肌张力、刚度、衰减（弹性的倒数）、松弛和蠕变。
ANP患者的肌肉张力、刚度和衰减高于对照组，而松弛程度低于对照组，所有差异均<0.05。在ANP组中，衰减是运动和休息后唯一显示出显著变化的特性，两者均<0.05。与基线值（=1.43Ø，标准差=0.04）相比，运动后（=1.35Ø，标准差=0.03）和休息后（=1.33Ø，标准差=0.03）观察到平均值（m）降低及其标准差（SD）。其他MMPs在整个评估时间内保持稳定（>0.05）。
应在任何活动方案之前进行MMPs评估，以确保结果反映ANP患者的基础组织特征，突出衰减作为这些变化的敏感标志物。
