Neck Awareness, Cognitive Function and Left/Right Judgment Performance in Individuals With Neck Pain: A Cross-sectional Study

Detailed Summary

Neck pain is one of the leading causes of disability worldwide and ranks fourth among the pathologies that result in disability. Although neck pain can be attributed to traumatic or inflammatory disorders, the majority of neck pain has no discernible cause and is considered idiopathic. Neck pain that lasts longer than 3 months takes the form of chronic neck pain. Some problems such as changes in muscle behavior and decrease in proprioceptive sensory input are observed in individuals with chronic neck pain. The presence of such problems, especially the dysfunction of the deep cervical muscles and the inability of the proprioceptors to provide motor control, cause the position sense to be impaired in these individuals and the awareness of the neck of the individuals decreases. The Left Right Judgment Task (LRJT) is a form of implicit motor imagery that involves determining as accurately and quickly as possible whether an image of a body part belongs to the left or right side. LRJT performance differences have been hypothesized to reflect changes in central nervous system functioning, errors in judgment, and changes in bodily representations. It has been shown that LRJT is a complex mental task that includes cognitive, sensory, motor and behavioral processes and can be associated with them. Recent studies have revealed that neck pain causes proprioceptive disorder and that proprioceptive training should be done in these individuals. A study showed that there is a strong correlation between biasedness judgment accuracy and proprioception. In this context, the investigators aimed to investigate the knowledge about the effect of individuals with neck pain on proprioception, cortical body diagram and pain.

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