Investigating the impact of 8 weeks of comprehensive corrective water and land exercises on females with upper crossed syndrome

چکیده مقاله

Background

Upper Crossed Syndrome (UCS) is a musculoskeletal disorder characterized by tightness in the upper trapezius, levator scapulae, and pectoralis major and minor muscles, along with weakness in the deep neck flexors, lower trapezius, and serratus anterior muscles. This study investigated the effectiveness of two 8-week comprehensive corrective exercise programs, one water-based and one land-based, on women with UCS.

Methods

This randomized controlled trial study was conducted on women aged 30–40 with UCS in Quchan City in 2023. According to the inclusion and exclusion criteria, 60 women with UCS were randomly selected and divided into three groups: land-based comprehensive corrective exercise (N = 20), water-based comprehensive corrective exercise (N = 20), and control group (N = 20). The exercise groups performed comprehensive corrective exercises for eight weeks, 3 sessions per week, 30–60 min per session. For data collection, informed consent forms, personal information, medical and sports history questionnaires, goniometers, stadiometers, scales, and flexible rulers were used. Data were analyzed using paired t tests, one-way ANOVA, and Tukey’s test using SPSS version 19 software at a significance level of 0.05.

Results

The results of the paired t tests showed that eight weeks of comprehensive corrective exercises in water and on land significantly reduced forward head angle, kyphosis angle, and forward shoulder angle in women with Upper Crossed Syndrome from pre-test to post-test. There was no significant difference between the effect of water-based comprehensive corrective exercise and land-based comprehensive corrective exercise on forward head angle (p = 0.87), kyphosis angle (p = 0.95), and forward shoulder angle (p = 0.97).

Conclusions

Eight weeks of water- or land-based comprehensive corrective exercise can effectively reduce forward head angle, thoracic kyphosis, and shoulder rounding in women with UCS. However, no difference was observed between the effectiveness of these two types of exercise.