Efficacy of Neck Stretching Exercises in Mitigating Neck Pain and Self-Reported Disability Post-Thyroidectomy: A Meta-Analysis

Abstract

Background: We aimed to forecast the efficacy of neck stretching exercises in mitigating self-reported disability post-thyroidectomy and neck pain.

Methods: Until Feb 2025, an inclusive literature study was accomplished, and 654 related studies were reviewed. The 5 nominated studies encompassed 654 patients with thyroidectomy at the beginning of the study and were selected for the meta-analysis. The mean difference (MD) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were used to examine the outcome of the neck stretching exercises compared to control on thyroidectomy using continuous methods with either a fixed or random model.

Results: In cases with thyroidectomy, neck stretching exercises had significantly lower mean neck pain score after 1 week (P=0.001), mean neck pain score after 1 month (P=0.01), mean self-reported neck disability score after 1 month (P<0. 001) compared to control treatment. Nonetheless, no significant difference was detected between neck stretching exercises and control treatment in mean self-reported neck disability score after 1 week (P=0.06) in patients with thyroidectomy. In patients with thyroidectomy, neck stretching exercises had significantly lower mean neck pain score after 1 week, and after 1 month, and mean self-reported neck disability score after 1 month, however, no significant difference was found in mean self-reported neck disability score after 1 week compared to control treatment.

Conclusion: More research is necessary to confirm this discovery, and care must be used while interacting with its values since many comparisons had a low number of included articles and a small sample size of most of the selected studies.