Effects of yogic exercise on nonspecific neck pain in university students.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the effects of yogic exercise on nonspecific neck pain in university students.

METHODS: This study is a pretest-posttest design with a non-equivalent control group. Thirty-eight university students were selected by convenience sampling, with 18 assigned to an exercise group and 20 assigned to a control group. The yoga group participated in one-hour sessions of yogic exercise two days a week for eight weeks. The exercise comprised eight stages: relaxation, flexion of neck, extension of neck, right lateral flexion of neck, left lateral flexion of neck, right rotation of neck, left rotation of neck, and relaxation. Neck pain intensity was measured using a 100 mm visual analogue scale.

RESULTS: The yoga group showed significantly decreased neck pain scores compared with those of the control group.

CONCLUSIONS: These findings indicate that yogic exercises could reduce neck pain in university students.