Smaller neck muscles linked to some physical differences in chronic neck pain
A review found associations with endurance, position sense and body sway, but rated the evidence as very uncertain.
Based on the published abstract. The full paper may contain additional methods, results and limitations.
The 30-second takeaway
In people with chronic nonspecific neck pain, smaller neck muscles were associated with lower endurance, altered awareness of neck position and greater postural sway. The review rated the evidence as very low certainty. These correlations do not show that smaller muscles caused the physical differences or that increasing muscle size would improve symptoms.
This summary uses only the abstract. It reports very low certainty and provides no correlation sizes or assessment timing, leaving the strength and clinical meaning of the relationships unclear.
Muscle size and physical tests
Researchers looked at muscle cross-sectional area, a measure of size, alongside physical tests. Reported associations involved particular neck muscles, so the abstract does not support a general rule connecting every muscle measurement with function.
Selected associations were reported
The review considered strength, endurance, movement range, position sense and head posture. Its summary highlights selected associations and does not give a complete set of results for every physical feature examined.
The original publication
Association between neck muscle size and physical features in individuals with chronic non-specific neck pain: A systematic review.
Sidiropoulos G, Arvanitidis M, Falla D et al.
Musculoskelet Sci Pract · 2025
- PubMed ID
- 41061531
- Record checked
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