Prevention of neck pain in adults with a Back School-Based intervention: a randomized controlled trial

Background: Neck pain is a health problem worldwide. To prevent it, experts recommend exercise and education. Objective: To evaluate the effects of a Back School-based intervention for the prevention of nonspecific neck pain in a healthy adult population. Methods: A randomized controlled trial with 58 participants with no history of neck pain within the past six months. The experimental group performed an 8-week Back School-based program. The control group maintained their usual lifestyle. Primary outcomes, which include the number of episodes, days and intensity of neck pain, and the number of medical visits, were recorded in a 1-year follow-up diary and analyzed using the Mann-Whitney test. Secondary outcomes, such as neck flexor, neck extensor, and scapular muscles endurance, were analyzed using the ANOVA test. Results: In the analysis of the primary outcomes, no significant differences were found in the number of episodes (p = 0.068,d = -0.49), number of days (p = 0.059,d = -0.54), or the average intensity of neck pain (p = 0.061,d = -0.53). There were significant changes in the number of medical visits (p = 0.033,d = -0.57). Moving to secondary outcomes, significant interactions were observed in neck flexor (p = 0.045, eta p(2) = 0.036) and neck extensor endurance (p = 0.049, eta p(2) = 0.035), but not in scapular muscle endurance (p = 0.536, eta p(2) = 0.003). Conclusions: The Back School-based program reduced the number of medical visits and increased the endurance of the cervical musculature. Trial registration in ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT05260645.