Year: 2026 | Month: May | Volume: 16 | Issue: 5 | Pages: 90-95
DOI: https://doi.org/10.52403/ijhsr.20260511
A Study to Compare Immediate Effect of Ischemic Compression Technique and Positional Release Technique on Pain and Cervical Range of Motion of Upper Trapezius Trigger Points - A Comparative Study
Snehal Amrutbhai Kolipatel1, Chetan G. Sakariya2
1Department of Physiotherapy, 2Department of Pathology,
School of Physiotherapy, Dr. Subhash University, Junagadh, India.
Corresponding Author: Dr. Snehal Kolipatel
ABSTRACT
Background: Myofascial trigger points, especially in upper trapezius muscle which produce pain and restrict movement, leading to functional limitation. Ischemic compression technique (IC) and positional release technique (PRT) commonly used to treat MTrPs. So, the aimed of the study is to compare immediate effect of IC and PRT on pain and cervical range of motion of upper trapezius trigger points.
Methods: The study was conducted on 30 patients with upper trapezius trigger points randomly divided into group A and group B which consist of 15 subjects in each group. Group A was treated with IC with conventional treatment which consists of US and isometric neck exercise and Group B was treated with PRT with conventional treatment. The outcome measure were active cervical ROM and VAS taken pre and post of treatment.
Results: The results revealed that the Group A (IC) showed significant improvement in cervical ROM and Group B (PRT) showed significant improvement in cervical ROM. Between group comparison revealed no significant difference between the two techniques in ROM of flexion (z= -0.278, p>0.05), extension (z= -1.11, p>0.05), side flexion (z= -0.29, p>0.05), rotation (z= -0.10, p>0.05) and VAS value (z= -0.81, p>0.05) in subject with upper trapezius trigger points.
Conclusion: It can be concluded that IC and PRT both are equally effective in decreasing pain and increasing active cervical range of motion in patients with upper trapezius trigger points.
Key words: Ischemic compression technique (IC), Positional release technique (PRT), Myofascial trigger points (MTrPs), Range of motion (ROM), Visual analog scale (VAS)