The Recovering Strategy on Forward Head Posture in Chinese Adolescents: Tai Chi and Manual Therapy

Summary

Forward head posture (FHP) is a prevalent deformity that can cause various health issues in adolescents. The programs combining manual therapy (MT) and stability exercises (SE) have shown better effectiveness than stability exercises and home exercises in recovering FHP. However, the effectiveness of the therapy program consisting of Tai Chi and MT for recovering FHP remains unclear. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the effects of Tai Chi with MT on FHP recovery. Meanwhile, with a particular focus on personalized medicine, we utilized explainable artificial intelligence (XAI) to predict if individuals would reverse to healthy posture based on different interventions.

Conditions

• Forward Head Posture

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Manual therapy

The therapist checks the range of motion of the cervical joints and gives manual treatment to the restricted joints. Throughout the examination, the subject lied in a supine position on a professional rehabilitation bed with the seventh cervical vertebra (C7) on the edge of the bed and the other the body above the C7 were placed off the bed. The therapist held the subject's occipital bone with one hand and the radial aspect of the second metacarpophalangeal joint of the other hand to grip the spinous process of the sixth cervical vertebra and slowly pushed the occiput downward to check the joint mobility of the fifth cervical vertebra and the sixth cervical vertebra. After the examination, the restricted joint was accurately located and treated with targeted manual therapy. For example, stretching was performed with the right side of C4-C5 flexed, closing only the right side of the subject's C4-C5 as much as possible to increase joint mobility on the right side of C4-C5.

BEHAVIORAL

Tai Chi

Based on the characteristics of young people and the need to correct their FHP, the classic Yang's 24 Forms of Tai Chi has been improved. The movements are mostly upper limb movements and the lower limb movements have been simplified to make the movements easy to learn. The modified Tai Chi exercise retains the traditional Tai Chi movements but is simple and easy to learn; at the same time, it increases the movement of the shoulder and neck joints. The subjects performed each exercise session in a group setting at the school gymnasium, with a professional Tai Chi instructor guiding them through a warm-up session, followed by a Tai Chi exercise session.

BEHAVIORAL

Tai Chi and Manual therapy

Intervention content of MSG included 15-min Tai Chi exercise and 15-min manual therapy, with the order of intervention being Tai Chi exercise first and then manual therapy.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Northeast Normal University

  lead OTHER

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

BASIC_SCIENCE

Masking

DOUBLE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

10 Years

Max Age

19 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

No

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2021-03-01

Primary Completion

2021-06-30

Completion

2021-07-20

Countries

• China

Study Locations