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Reducing State Anxiety Using Working Memory Maintenance

Reducing State Anxiety Using Working Memory Maintenance

Published on: July 19, 2017

Relationship between anxiety symptoms and cervical motor control in individuals without diagnosed psychiatric or

Andrea Calleja-Caballero¹, Juan Luis Sánchez-González^2,3, Marta Gómez-Mateos¹

¹Department of Nursing and Physiotherapy, University of Salamanca, Salamanca, Spain.

Frontiers in Psychology

|March 13, 2026

Abstract

Objectives:

This study aimed to explore the association between anxiety symptoms and cervical motor control in individuals without diagnosed psychiatric or neurological disorders.

Methods:

A cross-sectional study was conducted with 101 participants aged 18-60 without diagnosed psychiatric or neurological disorders. Anxiety levels were assessed using the Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale (HAM-A), a clinician-oriented measure applied here to a non-clinical sample, and severity cut-offs were interpreted cautiously. Cervical motor control was measured using the Head Repositioning Accuracy-to-Target test. Additional clinical variables such as vertigo, cervical pain, and headache were also recorded. Statistical analyses included Spearman correlations, multiple linear and logistic regressions.

Results:

Higher anxiety levels were significantly associated with increased angular error in cervical motor control, particularly in flexion, extension, and right rotation movements. A progressive increase in pain perception and motor dysfunction was observed in participants with moderate and severe anxiety. Multivariate analyses showed that cervical motor control errors and vertigo were independently associated with anxiety severity and clinically significant anxiety.

Conclusion:

Our findings revealed an association between anxiety symptoms and cervical sensorimotor disturbances in individuals without diagnosed psychiatric or neurological disorders. Given the cross-sectional design, these findings should be interpreted as observational and exploratory.

Keywords:

anxiety cervical motor control headache neck pain vertigo

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