Psychophysiological responses to a multimodal physiotherapy program in fighter pilots with flight-related neck pain: A pilot trial.

Background: The physical and cognitive demands of combat flying may influence the development and persistence of flight-related neck pain (FRNP). The aim of this pilot study was to analyse the effect of a multimodal physiotherapy program which combined supervised exercise with laser-guided feedback and interferential current therapy on psychophysiological variables in fighter pilots with FRNP.
Methods: Thirty-one fighter pilots were randomly assigned to two groups (Intervention Group: n = 14; Control Group: n = 17). The intervention consisted of 8 treatment sessions (twice per week) delivered over 4 weeks. The following primary outcomes were assessed: perceived pain intensity (Numeric Pain Rating Scale-NPRS) and Heart Rate Variability (HRV; time-domain, frequency-domain and non-linear variables). A number of secondary outcomes were also assessed: myoelectric activity of the upper trapezius and sternocleidomastoid, pain catastrophizing (Pain Catastrophizing Scale-PCS) and kinesiophobia (TSK-11).
Results: Statistically significant differences (p≤0.05) within and between groups were observed for all outcomes except for frequency domain and non-linear HRV variables. A significant time*group effect (one-way ANOVA) in favour of the intervention group was found for all variables (p<0.001). Effect sizes were large (d≥0.6).
Conclusions: The use of a multimodal physiotherapy program consisting of supervised exercise with laser-guided feedback and interferential current appears to show clinical benefit in fighter pilots with FRNP.
Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT05541848.
Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.
(Copyright: © 2024 Fernández-Morales et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)