The effectiveness of soft and semi-rigid cervical collars on acute cervical radiculopathy

Abstract

Objective. Cervical radiculopathy is one of the common causes of the neck pain. Medical devices in the formof cervical collars are frequently recommended in acute cervical radiculopathy. We aim to investigate andcompare the effect of soft and semi-rigid cervical collars on neck pain, disability and daily life activities in thepatients with acute cervical radiculopathy. Methods. We designed a prospective, single-blind, randomizedcontrolled study. This study was conducted on 101 patients who were diagnosed with clinical features ofradiculopathy and imaging showing cervical disc herniation. Visual Analog Scale (VAS), Neck Disability Index(NDI) and SF-36 were applied to the subjects. Evaluation of the patients was done before the treatment and 2weeks and 6 weeks after the start of the treatment. Patients were divided into three groups according to thecomputer-generated randomization table: Soft cervical collar, semi-rigid cervical collar and control group. Thepatients in collar groups were asked to wear the collars for 8 hours during the day for the first 2 weeks. Results.Comparison of the soft cervical collar group with the control group showed significantly better improvementin the former in VAS and NDI scores at week 2 and 6 (p < 0.05), in SF-36 pain perception subunit at week 2(p < 0.05), and in SF-36 physical component score at week 6 (p < 0.05). Comparison of the semi-rigid cervicalcollar group with the control showed significantly better improvement in the former for NDI scores and SF36 pain perception subunit at week 2 and 6 (p < 0.05). Conclusions. The results of our study have indicatedthat the use of soft and semi-rigid cervical collars was more effective than conservative treatment in treatmentof neck pain and disability in acute cervical radiculopathy in the short term. Soft cervical collars were alsofound to be more effective for pain management than semi-rigid cervical collars