The Recovering Strategy on Forward Head Posture in Chinese Adolescents: Tai Chi and Manual Therapy

NCT ID: NCT05804539

Last Updated: 2023-04-07

Basic Information

• Recruitment Status: COMPLETED
• Clinical Phase: NA
• Total Enrollment: 65 participants
• Study Classification: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Start Date: 2021-03-01
• Study Completion Date: 2021-07-20

Brief Summary

Forward head posture (FHP) is a prevalent deformity that can cause various health issues in adolescents. The programs combining manual therapy (MT) and stability exercises (SE) have shown better effectiveness than stability exercises and home exercises in recovering FHP. However, the effectiveness of the therapy program consisting of Tai Chi and MT for recovering FHP remains unclear. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the effects of Tai Chi with MT on FHP recovery. Meanwhile, with a particular focus on personalized medicine, we utilized explainable artificial intelligence (XAI) to predict if individuals would reverse to healthy posture based on different interventions.

Conditions

Forward Head Posture

Study Design

• Allocation Method: RANDOMIZED
• Intervention Model: PARALLEL
• Primary Study Purpose: BASIC_SCIENCE
• Blinding Strategy: DOUBLE

Study Groups

Manual therapy

Each lesson has a duration of 40 minutes, including the first five minutes of warm-up, 30 minutes of manual therapy and the last five minutes of cool-down.

Group Type: EXPERIMENTAL

Manual therapy

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

The therapist checks the range of motion of the cervical joints and gives manual treatment to the restricted joints. Throughout the examination, the subject lied in a supine position on a professional rehabilitation bed with the seventh cervical vertebra (C7) on the edge of the bed and the other the body above the C7 were placed off the bed. The therapist held the subject's occipital bone with one hand and the radial aspect of the second metacarpophalangeal joint of the other hand to grip the spinous process of the sixth cervical vertebra and slowly pushed the occiput downward to check the joint mobility of the fifth cervical vertebra and the sixth cervical vertebra. After the examination, the restricted joint was accurately located and treated with targeted manual therapy. For example, stretching was performed with the right side of C4-C5 flexed, closing only the right side of the subject's C4-C5 as much as possible to increase joint mobility on the right side of C4-C5.

Tai Chi

Each lesson has a duration of 40 minutes, including the first five minutes of warm-up, 30 minutes of Tai Chi and the last five minutes of cool-down.

Group Type: EXPERIMENTAL

Tai Chi

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

Based on the characteristics of young people and the need to correct their FHP, the classic Yang's 24 Forms of Tai Chi has been improved. The movements are mostly upper limb movements and the lower limb movements have been simplified to make the movements easy to learn. The modified Tai Chi exercise retains the traditional Tai Chi movements but is simple and easy to learn; at the same time, it increases the movement of the shoulder and neck joints. The subjects performed each exercise session in a group setting at the school gymnasium, with a professional Tai Chi instructor guiding them through a warm-up session, followed by a Tai Chi exercise session.

Tai Chi and Manual therapy

Each lesson has a duration of 40 minutes, including the first five minutes of warm-up, 15-min Tai Chi exercise and 15-min manual therapy, with the order of intervention being Tai Chi exercise first and then manual therapy, and the last five minutes of cool-down.

Group Type: EXPERIMENTAL

Tai Chi and Manual therapy

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

Intervention content of MSG included 15-min Tai Chi exercise and 15-min manual therapy, with the order of intervention being Tai Chi exercise first and then manual therapy.

Interventions

Manual therapy

The therapist checks the range of motion of the cervical joints and gives manual treatment to the restricted joints. Throughout the examination, the subject lied in a supine position on a professional rehabilitation bed with the seventh cervical vertebra (C7) on the edge of the bed and the other the body above the C7 were placed off the bed. The therapist held the subject's occipital bone with one hand and the radial aspect of the second metacarpophalangeal joint of the other hand to grip the spinous process of the sixth cervical vertebra and slowly pushed the occiput downward to check the joint mobility of the fifth cervical vertebra and the sixth cervical vertebra. After the examination, the restricted joint was accurately located and treated with targeted manual therapy. For example, stretching was performed with the right side of C4-C5 flexed, closing only the right side of the subject's C4-C5 as much as possible to increase joint mobility on the right side of C4-C5.

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

Tai Chi

Based on the characteristics of young people and the need to correct their FHP, the classic Yang's 24 Forms of Tai Chi has been improved. The movements are mostly upper limb movements and the lower limb movements have been simplified to make the movements easy to learn. The modified Tai Chi exercise retains the traditional Tai Chi movements but is simple and easy to learn; at the same time, it increases the movement of the shoulder and neck joints. The subjects performed each exercise session in a group setting at the school gymnasium, with a professional Tai Chi instructor guiding them through a warm-up session, followed by a Tai Chi exercise session.

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

Tai Chi and Manual therapy

Intervention content of MSG included 15-min Tai Chi exercise and 15-min manual therapy, with the order of intervention being Tai Chi exercise first and then manual therapy.

Intervention Type: BEHAVIORAL

Eligibility Criteria

Inclusion Criteria

1. who was diagnosed as FHP;

2. whose age was between ten to nineteen years old.

Exclusion Criteria

1. who had nervous system disease or musculoskeletal system disease;

2. who had congenital scoliosis or congenital malformation disease;

3. who participated in other sports training;

4. who participated in other training program in the past of three months before the beginning of the study.

• Minimum Eligible Age: 10 Years
• Maximum Eligible Age: 19 Years
• Eligible Sex: ALL
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

Sponsors

Northeast Normal University

OTHER

Sponsor Role: lead

Responsible Party

Guang Yang, Prof. Dr.

Prof.Dr.

Responsibility Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Locations

Chinese Center of Exercise Epidemiology

Changchun, Jilin, China

Countries

China

Other Identifiers

CCEE2021

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id