Measuring the Efficacy of Myofascial Rollers and Post-isometric Relaxation Technique in Relieving Pain Intensity and Postural Deviation Using Plumb Line Assessment for the Treatment of Upper Cross Syndrome in Dental Undergraduate (UG) Students

Background: In today’s world, the upper cross syndrome is growing more common and becoming very prevalent among dental undergraduate practitioners. One of the most important conditions for which dentists seek physiotherapy treatment is neck pain. It is characterized by overactive pectoralis and trapezius muscles. It is frequently linked to poor posture in dental students' daily life, causing them to miss their work. Objectives: The first objective of our study was to find the efficacy of myofascial rollers and post-isometric relaxation technique along with conventional therapy for pain relief and correction of postural deviation in undergraduate dental students. And, the second objective of the study was to compare the effect of myofascial rollers and post-isometric relaxation techniques in upper cross syndrome. Methods: The study was conducted with pre-test and post-test methods. The study consisted of 80 participants who were included based on our inclusion and exclusion criteria. The study sample was randomly assigned into two groups. Each group consisted of a total of 40 participants. Group A was treated using myofascial rollers and hot packs, and Group B was treated using the post-isometric relaxation technique and hot packs. Patients were asked to mark their intensity of pain on the Numerical Pain Rating Scale and an assessment of postural deviations (in mm) was noted through a plumb line in the posture grid. Posture assessment was done in lateral view. The protocol covered four weeks of treatment based on the defined protocol. Finally, the t-square test and Chi-square test were used to compare the difference in the result. Also, the level of significance was kept at <0.05. Result: Statistical analysis was done using descriptive and inferential statistics using student paired, unpaired, and chi-square test. IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows, Version 27.0 (Released 2020; IBM Corp., Armonk, New York, United States) was used. The Numerical Pain Rating Scale showed mean deviations of (4.15±1.29) for Group A and (3.30±1.01) for Group B. Plumb line assessment showed mean deviations of (9.09±4.31) for Group A and (6.33±2.36) for Group B. Also, Numerical Pain Rating Scale showed (t=3.26, p=0.002) and Plumb line deviation showed (t=3.57, p=0.001). Conclusion: Through our study, we conclude that statistically no significant differences were found in pre-intervention and post-intervention, but myofascial rollers gave better results as compared to the post-isometric relaxation technique in alleviating pain and correcting postural deviation.