Introduction: The prevalence of forward head deformity and the formation of unfavorable alignment changes which can be the result of adopting wrong posture habits and continuous repetition of related movements in computer user students is probably one of the most common causes of pain and changes in body posture in these people, which is necessary to carry out It doubles the measures related to the prevention and correction of the mentioned abnormality. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to investigate the effect of postural retraining exercises on pain, body posture control and correction of head and neck alignment in computer user students with forward head deformity.
Methodology: The current research is semi-experimental, which was considered as pre-test and post-test in two experimental and control groups. The subjects of this research included 30 students with forward head deformity with an age range between 15 and 18 years, who were selected as available and targeted samples from the schools of Karaj city. The subjects of the present study were randomly divided into two experimental (15 people) and control (15 people) groups. Visual pain scale, Y balance test and craniovertebral angle were used to assess pain, control body position and head and neck alignment in students with forward head deformity. Postural retraining exercise program was conducted for 8 weeks, three sessions per week and each session was 45 minutes under the supervision of the researcher. Analysis of variance with repeated measures was used to investigate the interaction of time and exercise effect among groups, and paired t-test was used to investigate intragroup changes at a significance level of P≥0.05. SPSS statistical software, version 21, was used to perform all calculations.
Results: Examining the results of the upcoming study showed a significant decrease in the visual scale of pain perception in the experimental group, also the experimental group showed a significant improvement in the Y balance test (in all three directions anterior, posterior-medial and posterior-external) and correction of the alignment of the head and neck. (P<0.05), while in the control group results analysis, none of the variables of pain, body posture control and correction of head and neck forward alignment showed significant improvement (P>0.05).
Conclusion: The findings of the present research showed that postural retraining exercises can lead to improvement of pain, control of body posture and head and neck alignment in computer user students with head forward deformity. Since the aforementioned exercises were performed with a focus on retraining the correct posture, it has probably reduced the pressures that cause pain in the tissues of the area and provided the basis for improving the control of the body position through correcting the alignment of the head and neck in these people.