Effects of Painful Compared to Painless Manual Therapy on Pain Processing in University Students With Neck Pain

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effects of provoking pain with manual therapy on pain processing in university students with recurrent or chronic neck pain.

Inclusion Criteria:University studentsChronic neck pain (persistent pain > 3 months almost every day of the week) or recurrent neck pain (repeated episodes of neck pain starting > 3 months ago with pain-free periods)Non-specific neck pain (pain in the neck region that is not attributable to a known specific such as herniated disc, myelopathy, fractures, spinal stenosis, neoplasm etc. nor is it associated with traumatic causes such as whiplash)Mean NRS score the last week > 2/10 and presence of pain on the day of assesment and treatmentExclusion Criteria:Signs of radiculopathy or neuropathic painNeck surgeriesInflammatory rheumaticNeurological, cardiorespiratory, oncological or psychiatric diseasePregnancyNot being able to read Spanish in order to fill in the questionnaires