Improving Kyphotic Postures and Neck Pain in Young Adults: A Meta-Analysis of Exercise-Based Interventions

The study aimed to review the findings concerning the effects of exercises on Cobb angle and pain in patients suffering from cervical pain caused by thoracic kyphosis. Two investigators separately conducted a systematic review of the electronic literature from 2018 till 2022. PubMed, MEDLINE, Web of Science, Science Direct, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Clinical Trials, Google Scholar, and Scopus were among the electronic databases that were accessed. This meta-analysis included 5 studies, published between 2019 and 2022. A sample size of 261 patients; included in 5 studies were estimated on Cobb angle and pain. The between-groups pooled random SMD for Cobb angle and pain showed a larger effect size of -2.146 and -1.126, respectively. The findings suggested that physical therapy exercise may result in larger changes among the Cobb angle and neck pain of kyphotic patients. Key Words: Exercise, Physical therapy, Cobb angle, Pain, Thoracic kyphotic angle, Conservative management.