Do male and female patients with chronic neck pain really have different health-related physical fitness, depression, anxiety and quality of life parameters?

Aim: The purpose of this study was to investigate whole body physical fitness parameters such as maximal aerobic capacity (VO max), muscle strength, trunk flexibility, daily physical activity, pulmonary function, body composition, anxiety and depression, as well as other disease-related changes in patients with chronic neck pain (CNP), and to compare them with healthy controls.

Method: Eighty patients (40 male, 40 female) with CNP and 80 (40 male, 40 female) controls were included in this study. VO max, handgrip and back-leg strengths, trunk flexibility, daily physical activity, pulmonary function test (PFT), body composition and pressure pain threshold (PPT) measurements were carried out. Neck disability index (NDI), Beck anxiety inventory (BAI), Beck depression inventory (BDI), Pittsburg sleep quality index (PSQI), and Short-Form health survey (SF-36) questionnaires were applied to all participants.

Results: Handgrip and back-leg strengths and suboccipital and paraspinal-C7 PPTs and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) were lower, and PSQI, BAI and BDI were higher, in female patients with CNP, compared to healthy controls; whereas, VO max and HRQoL were lower, and body fat percantage and PSQI were higher, in male patients with CNP, compared to healthy controls. Trunk flexibility and PFT values were not significantly different between the patients and the controls in both genders.

Conclusion: We suggest that, on the basis of gender, consideration of not only the neck region but also whole body physical fitness, anxiety and depression parameters in patients with CNP might be helpful to the development of more benefical strategies for illness management.