Video-Call Exercise for Chronic Neck Pain: What a Randomised Trial Found

Physical therapists and physical therapist assistants who treat adults with ongoing neck pain, and clinicians considering or already delivering exercise care by video call.

Physical therapists and physical therapist assistants in outpatient orthopaedic, hospital-based, academic, and telehealth settings. The material is also useful to rehabilitation managers evaluating remote service models.

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 is based on a single published randomised controlled trial that compared a six-week telerehabilitation exercise programme with a digital self-care booklet in adults with chronic non-specific neck pain. The trial used concealed allocation, a blinded outcome assessor, and intention-to-treat analysis, and it followed CONSORT and SPIRIT reporting standards. Participants were enrolled between August 2022 and May 2023 from a rehabilitation centre waiting list and through social media, and the protocol was published in advance.

Randomised controlled trial of a telerehabilitation exercise programme versus a digital self-care booklet for non-specific chronic neck pain. Trial registration: RBR-10h7khvk, registered 16 September 2022 at https://ensaiosclinicos.gov.br/rg/RBR-10h7khvk.

Every claim, figure, and conclusion presented in this course traces to that source document. Where the trial left a question open, the course says so rather than filling the gap from other literature.

After completing this course, you will be able to:

1. Describe the population, the two treatment arms, and the follow-up schedule used in the randomised trial of telerehabilitation for chronic non-specific neck pain.
2. State which outcomes favoured the telerehabilitation group at the end of the six-week programme and which of those advantages were still clear at the three-month follow-up.
3. Explain the limits the authors placed on their own findings, including the short follow-up period and what remains uncertain about longer-term results.

1. Start Here: how this course works and what the source is
2. Podcast: Video-Call Exercise for Chronic Neck Pain (about nine minutes)
3. Chronic Non-Specific Neck Pain and the Case for Remote Care
4. Inside the Trial: Video-Call Exercise Versus a Digital Self-Care Booklet
5. What Changed at Six Weeks and What Held at Three Months
6. Where the Evidence Stops: Limits of a Short Follow-Up
7. What the Findings Could Mean for Remote Neck Pain 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 is based on a single published randomised controlled trial that compared a six-week telerehabilitation exercise programme with a digital self-care booklet in adults with chronic non-specific neck pain. The trial used concealed allocation, a blinded outcome assessor, and intention-to-treat analysis, and it followed CONSORT and SPIRIT reporting standards. Participants were enrolled between August 2022 and May 2023 from a rehabilitation centre waiting list and through social media, and the protocol was published in advance.
2. Randomised controlled trial of a telerehabilitation exercise programme versus a digital self-care booklet for non-specific chronic neck pain. Trial registration: RBR-10h7khvk, registered 16 September 2022 at https://ensaiosclinicos.gov.br/rg/RBR-10h7khvk.
3. Every claim, figure, and conclusion presented in this course traces to that source document. Where the trial left a question open, the course says so rather than filling the gap from other literature.