Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of a 12-week progressive modified push-up exercise program on forward head posture, scapular stability, upper-extremity muscular endurance, and pain in female office workers in their 30...
Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of a 12-week progressive modified push-up exercise program on forward head posture, scapular stability, upper-extremity muscular endurance, and pain in female office workers in their 30s.
Methods: A total of 30 participants with forward head posture were initially recruited and randomly assigned to either an exercise group (EG, n=15) or a control group (CG, n=15). During the 12-week period, 6 participants dropped out due to personal reasons and scheduling conflicts, leaving a final sample of 24 participants (EG, n=12; CG, n=12) for data analysis. The exercise group participated in the progressive modified push-up exercise program for 12 weeks, whereas the control group maintained their usual daily activities. Body composition, static postural alignment, muscle activity, functional stability, subjective measures, and upper-extremity muscular endurance were assessed before and after the intervention. Data were analyzed using a two-way repeated-measures analysis of variance (2×2) to examine interaction and main effects, followed by paired and independent t-tests as post-hoc analyses, with the significance level set at α〈.05.
Results: A significant group-by-time interaction effect was found for body weight among the body composition variables (p〈.05), with a significant decrease in the exercise group, whereas skeletal muscle mass, BMI, and body fat showed no significant change. Significant interaction effects were also observed for the craniovertebral angle (CVA) and the scapular alignment index (SG), with significant improvements in the exercise group compared with the control group (p〈.001). Muscle activity analysis revealed significant interaction effects for both the serratus anterior and the upper trapezius; serratus anterior activation increased significantly in the exercise group and was significantly higher than in the control group at post-test (p〈.01), while upper trapezius activity also increased significantly, with the serratus anterior showing the more prominent improvement. Functional stability assessed using the Y-Balance Test showed a significant interaction effect, with significant improvement in the exercise group (p〈.001). Subjective measures, including the Korean Neck Disability Index (K-NDI) and the Visual Analog Scale (VAS), showed significant interaction effects, with significant reductions in the exercise group (p〈.001). Upper-extremity muscular endurance assessed using modified push-up performance also showed a significant interaction effect, with significant improvement following the intervention (p〈.001).
Conclusion: These findings suggest that a 12-week progressive modified push-up exercise program may effectively improve postural alignment, functional stability, pain, and upper-extremity function in female office workers in their 30s. Therefore, this program may be considered an effective intervention strategy for posture correction and rehabilitation in clinical and occupational settings.