The Effect of Tendon Release Techniques in Patients With Cervical Disc Herniation

The sternocleidomastoid, platysma, longus colli, longus capitis, scalene, rhomboid major and minor, levator scapulae and trapezius muscles and their tendons are compressed to 0.5 kg using an algometer. The patient's response is used to determine whether or not there is pain.

The Short Form-36 (SF-36) is a self-assessment scale and analyses 8 dimensions of health including physical function, social function, role limitations (due to physical and emotional reasons), mental health, vitality (energy), pain and general perception of health with 36 items. In scoring the scale, each sub-dimension is given a score between 0 and 100 points, where 0 points indicate that the quality of life dimension is poor and 100 points indicate that it is good.

For pain intensity according to VAS, "no pain" is usually graded as 0 points and "worst imaginable pain" as 10 points (10 cm scale). The ranges for pain intensity are <3 mild pain, 3-6 moderate pain, >6 severe pain.

Range of motion of the cervical spine will be assessed with a goniometer.

With the patient in an upright sitting position, the clinician flexes and laterally flexes the patient's head and applies cranial to caudal compression. The test is considered positive if there is pain, numbness and tingling. A positive spurling test indicates that there may be a problem such as a possible nerve root compression in this area. If the test is negative, it is said that nerve root compression is less likely.

The patient performs flexion, extension, right lateral flexion, left lateral flexion, right rotation and left rotation. Meanwhile, the clinician maintains the position by applying the same force in the opposite direction of movement. A stopwatch is used to time the onset of pain. The longer the time, the better the outcome. A shorter time indicates a poor clinical prognosis.