Background: Individuals with mechanical neck pain show biomechanical and neurophysiological changes, including cervical spine muscle weakness. As a result of deep muscle weakness, it causes stability disability and reduced upper thoracic spine mobility, which finally leads to functional movement restriction such as limited range of motion and dysfunction. Recent studies have shown that thoracic spine manipulation and mobilization could reduce symptoms of mechanical neck pain in patients. Objects: The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of thoracic mobility exercise on cervicothoracic function, posture feature, and pain intensity in individuals with mechanical neck pain. Methods: The study subjects were 26 persons who were randomly assigned to the experimental (with thoracic mobility exercise) and control groups (without thoracic mobility exercise), with 13 subjects in each group. The cervicothoracic function (neck functional disability level and cervicothoracic range of motion), posture feature, and pain rating (using a quadrupled visual analogue scale [QVAS]) were measured before, after 3 weeks, and after 6 weeks. Results: Statistically significant group-by-time interactions were found with repeated analyses of variance for the Korean neck disability index (KNDI), all cervical range of motion (CROM), all thoracic range of motion (TROM), cranial rotation angle, sagittal shoulder posture (SSP), and QVAS (p<.05). All groups showed significant improvements from all times in all the evaluated methods. The KNDI, CROM, TROM of left rotation, and SSP in the experimental group showed significant improvements after 3 weeks, and the TROM of the right rotation and QVAS in the experimental group showed significant improvements after 6 weeks when compared with the control group. Conclusion: Thoracic mobility exercise during 6 weeks might be effective intervention to improve the functional level, posture feature, and QVAS pain rating for managing individuals with mechanical neck pain.

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of combined respiratory physical therapy on respiratory function, spinal curve and spinal mobility for community-dwelling elderlies with restrictive lung diseases. In total, 10 patients participated in an 8-week intervention program of thoracic cage mobilization and breathing exercise in combination. The results of the study are as follows: for respiratory function, the forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1), forced vital capacity(FVC), and FEV1/FVC were significantly improved to .30±0.31ℓ, .46±.42ℓ, and 18.10±11.39%, respectively (p<.05). For spinal curve, the thoracic curve and the lumbar curve were improved significantly to -2.20±1.40° and -1.20±1.14°, respectively (p<.01). For spinal mobility, the thoracic flexion (3.40±2.99°), thoracic extension (3.50±1.43°), lumbar flexion (4.50±4.74°), and lumbar extension(- 1.50±1.84°) were all significantly improved (p<.05). These findings indicate that thoracic cage mobilization and breathing exercise in combination improve the respiratory function, spinal alignment, and spinal mobility in elderly people with restrictive lung diseases,