We attempted to investigate the effect of cervical stabilization exercise for a period of 5 weeks on active joint position sense in healthy young adults. Twenty-four subjects were randomly assigned to either the exercise group or the control group. The exercise group performed cervical stabilization exercise during the 5-week period. Cervical active joint position sense was measured using the head repositioning accuracy test. The result showed a positive interaction between time and group in the left and right rotation, flexion, and extension. Cervical stabilization exercise significantly improved the sense for four position senses in the exercise group (p< 0.05). However, there was no difference in the four position senses in the control group (p> 0.05). In conclusion, we suggested that cervical stabilization exercise leads to improvement in accuracy of the joint position sense.
Keywords: Cervical stabilization exercise; joint position sense; proprioception.