Research Journal of Pharmacy and Technology

The aim of the study is to find the efficacy of the Schroth Method and Yoga in improving the postural alignment and pulmonary function in subjects with upper cross syndrome.

In today's population, the upper crossed syndrome is a highly prevalent one, among the people who work at desks and computers, laptops or who sit for a majority of the day and continuously exhibit poor posture. It presents with a muscle imbalance between the tonic and phasic muscles and also interrupts the breathing pattern due to the involvement of accessory respiratory muscles. Due to the postural misalignment of head on trunk it is associated with pain in the neck and shoulder. When any attempts to correct this malaligned posture, towards an ideal posture using a combination of strengthening, stretching and feedback training in a three dimensional approach-Schroth method represent a significant component in improving the posture, mobility, balance and also corrective breathing.

It is an experimental study comparing the Schroth Method and yoga in individuals with upper cross syndrome, conducted in ACS Medical College And Hospital for the duration of 3 months. The study included 30 subjects based on the inclusion criteria. Both male and female subjects between the age group 17–22 years with forward head posture, rounded shoulder, neck pain and those who were observed with abnormal pattern in Janda cervical flexion test, were included in the study. Subjects with trauma, recent injury or surgery, any serious underlying pathology that influence the mobility of upper limb were excluded from the study. The Janda flexion test and accurate posture assessment software, peak expiratory flow rate were used in pre and post-test measurement.

Both the groups (A and B) showed significant difference in the posttest mean values, but group-A (schroth method) showed a better significant difference in post-test than group-B (yoga) at ***p<0.001.