Background: Weakness of the trapezius and serratus anterior (SA) muscle may be a risk factor for unilateral neck pain.
Objective: This study examined the trapezius (upper, middle, and lower) and SA muscle strength ipsilateral and contralateral to the painful side in violinists with unilateral neck pain.
Method: Twenty-six female violinists with unilateral neck pain participated in this study. Participants reported the pain intensity and duration and completed the Neck Disability Index (NDI). The strengths of the upper (UT), middle (MT), and lower (LT) trapezius and SA muscles were measured using a handheld dynamometer. Paired t-test was used to compare the strength of the muscles between ipsilateral and contralateral to the painful side within subjects. The relationship between pain intensity, pain duration, and neck disability and strength deficit of the muscle was demonstrated by Pearson's correlation and Spearman's rank correlation.
Results: The strengths of the UT, MT, LT, and SA muscles were significantly decreased on the painful side compared with the contralateral side (P< 0.05). Except for correlations between pain intensity and percent strength deficit of the UT and between pain duration and percent strength deficit of the MT (P< 0.05), there were no significant associations between pain intensity, pain duration, or NDI and the percent strength deficit of the UT, MT, LT and SA muscles (P> 0.05).
Conclusions: These results suggest that decreased UT, MT, LT, and SA muscle strength on the side of the pain should be considered in the rehabilitation of violinists with unilateral neck pain.
Keywords: Neck pain; serratus anterior muscle; strength; trapezius muscle; violinist.