Neck Pain and Disability: Are They Related to Dysfunctional Breathing and Stress?

People with neck pain are likely to have negative respiratory findings. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between neck  pain and dysfunctional breathing and to examine their relationship to stress. This cross-sectional study included 49 participants with neck pain and 49 age- and sex-matched controls. We measured neck pain using the numeric rating scale (NRS); neck disability using the Neck Disability Index (NDI); dysfunctional breathing using the Nijmegen Questionnaire (NQ), Self-Evaluation of Breathing Questionnaire (SEBQ), breath hold time, and respiratory rate (RR); and stress using the Perceived Stress Scale (PSS). Participants with neck pain scored higher on the NQ (p < 0.01) and the SEBQ (p < 0.01) than controls. NQ and SEBQ scores correlated moderately with NDI scores (r > 0.50; 95% CI: 0.25, 0.68 and 0.33, 0.73, respectively) and PSS scores (r > 0.50; 95% CI: 0.29, 0.78 and 0.31, 0.73, respectively). SEBQ scores showed a fair correlation with NRS scores and RR a fair correlation with NDI scores. Participants with neck pain had more dysfunctional breathing symptoms than participants without neck pain, and dysfunctional breathing was correlated with increased neck disability and increased stress. The NQ and SEBQ can be useful in assessing dysfunctional breathing in patients with neck pain.