Comparison of the efficiency of home-programmed massage therapy and hot pack therapy for neck and shoulder pain

Background
Can patients with neck-shoulder pain receive physiotherapy at home?

Objectives
This study compares the effectiveness of home-programmed medical massage therapy and hot pack therapy in patients with neck-shoulder pain (NSP).

Material and methods
Patients with complaints of pain in the anatomical triangle between the root of the neck and shoulder acromioclavicular and sternoclavicular joints were included in the study. The study was completed with a total of 94 patients. Patients were given home medical massage therapy and hot pack therapy application training, called for control after 20 sessions/day, and the values obtained at the beginning and after the sessions were compared.

Results
When the perceived pain level of the patients who completed the study was analyzed according to a range of motion (ROM) exam before and after medical massage and hot pack therapy, it was found that the pain decreased significantly (p < 0.001). According to the examination of shoulder joint movements, the perceived pain levels before therapy were not statistically different between the patients who received medical massage and hot pack therapy (p > 0.05). On the other hand, the perceived pain level of the medical massage group was statistically adequate, and the pain decreased compared to the hot pack group in the post-therapy analysis (p < 0.05).

Conclusions
It was observed that massage and hot pack applications reduce pain in treating neck and shoulder joint pain syndrome. Massage was more effective than a hot pack in pain management for NSP.