• Eren Timurtaş, Halit Selçuk, Ekin Uğur Canöz, Mehmet Inceer, Suat Batar, İlkşan Demirbüken, and Mine Gülden Polat.
• Department of Physiotherapy and Rehabilitation, Faculty of Health Sciences, Marmara University, Istanbul, Turkey.
• Arch Orthop Trauma Surg. 2024 Feb 1; 144 (2): 559566559-566.

IntroductionEvidence exists on clinical benefits of synchronous and asynchronous telerehabilitation for patients with non-specific neck pain (NSNP); however, limited studies are comparing synchronous and asynchronous telerehabilitation (TR) programs in this population. The aim of this study was to estimate the relative effectiveness of an 8-week synchronous or asynchronous TR in improving pain, functional disability, kinesiophobia, and mobility in patients with NSNP.Materials And MethodsThis was a randomized, controlled clinical trial carried out on 60 individuals with NSNP. Participants were randomly assigned to synchronous TR group (n = 30) or asynchronous TR group (n = 30) that received the same exercise program for 8 weeks. Pain measured by Numeric Pain Rating Scale (NPRS), disability measured by Neck Disability Index (NDI), kinesiophobia measured by Tampa Scale of Kinesiophobia (TSK), and cervical range of motion were used as outcome measures. Assessments were performed at baseline, 4th week, 8th week, and 16th week.ResultsThe analysis showed a significant effect of time and significant interaction between group and time in NPRS, NDI, TSK, and cervical mobility scores (p < 0.05), yet the group effect was not significant (p > 0.05). There were no significant differences between the groups at all time points (p > 0.05) except for cervical right lateral flexion at 8th week (p = 0.036).ConclusionTelerehabilitation technologies are expanding at a rapid rate, and it is essential to understand the outcomes produced using these technologies in health conditions. This study showed that synchronous and asynchronous telerehabilitation produces similar results in patients with NSNP, supporting that either method can be used interchangeably.© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.

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