Can the sleep quality of patients with chronic neck pain be improved by muscle energy techniques combined with Swedish massage?

Muscle energy techniques (METs) are used to reduce tension in neck muscles and therefore, can be used together with Swedish massage to enhance its effect. The aim of this study was to assess if using METs combined with massage could improve sleep quality. In this prospective, randomised controlled trial forty patients with chronic cervical spine pain were divided into two equal groups. Both groups attended 10 sessions of Swedish massage, and the study group additionally attended MET-sessions. Sleep disturbances were assessed with the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI). A significant improvement in terms of sleep disturbances was seen in both groups. The MET group demonstrated improvement in all PSQI components. In the control group, the improvement included only 4 components of the index. Massage therapy combined with relaxing METs may be more effective than massage therapy alone in this group of patients.