Breathing Exercises as an Adjunct in Neck Pain Management

Physical therapists and physical therapist assistants who treat adults with neck pain and want a short, evidence-focused summary of what breathing exercises did in the trials that have been run so far.

Licensed physical therapists and physical therapist assistants in outpatient, hospital, and community settings. Physical therapist assistants deliver interventions under the direction of a supervising physical therapist.

Intended audience

Physical Therapy

Level

Introductory

Delivery format

Online, asynchronous, self-paced course: interactive reading with audio or video, and a scored post-test.

Based on

This course reports on a single open-access publication and introduces no claims beyond it.

Cefalì A, Santini D, Lopez G, Maselli F, Rossettini G, Crestani M, Lullo G, Young I, Dunning J, de Abreu RM, Mourad F. Effects of Breathing Exercises on Neck Pain Management: A Systematic Review with Meta-Analysis. Journal of Clinical Medicine. 2025;14:709. Published 22 January 2025. Open access under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license.

Review protocol registered with PROSPERO on 23 March 2024 (CRD42024518794).

After completing this course, you will be able to:

1. Describe what the systematic review set out to test and which patients the included trials actually enrolled.
2. State the review's findings for pain, disability, and respiratory measures, along with how certain the authors judged that evidence to be.
3. Explain the limitations the authors identified and the implications they drew for neck pain management.

1. Start Here: how this course works and what it covers
2. Podcast: Breathing Exercises and Neck Pain — the Evidence in Brief (about nine minutes)
3. Why Breathing Turned Up in the Neck Pain Literature
4. How the Review Was Assembled
5. What the Five Trials Reported
6. Where the Evidence Runs Thin
7. What the Authors Said It Could Mean for Care
8. Key Takeaways
9. Post-test and course evaluation

Quinn Millington, PT, DPT, ECS is the instructor of record: the licensed clinician who reviewed this course and signed off on it. The name and credentials print on the certificate.

Disclosures. This course was developed by The ConEd Solution, which has a financial interest in its sale. No outside funding or sponsorship was received. The instructor of record has no affiliation with the authors of the source publication or their institutions.

This course awards 0.5 contact hours (30 min). How you earn them:

1. Complete the course. Every lesson, in order.
2. Pass the post-test. Score 80% or higher. Retakes are allowed.
3. Complete the evaluation. A short form rating each learning objective and the course.
4. Download your certificate. It is issued on completion and stays available in My Account.

The episode time is its measured length. Reading, post-test and evaluation times are estimates.

This course is designed to satisfy the quality requirements state boards set for continuing education. Requirements vary by state, and confirming that a course fits your renewal is up to you. Each state’s own acceptance statement is in the credit panel on this page.

1. This course reports on a single open-access publication and introduces no claims beyond it.
2. Cefalì A, Santini D, Lopez G, Maselli F, Rossettini G, Crestani M, Lullo G, Young I, Dunning J, de Abreu RM, Mourad F. Effects of Breathing Exercises on Neck Pain Management: A Systematic Review with Meta-Analysis. Journal of Clinical Medicine. 2025;14:709. Published 22 January 2025. Open access under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license.
3. Review protocol registered with PROSPERO on 23 March 2024 (CRD42024518794).