Long-term neck pain that does not have a specific known cause can lead to pain and disability, making it a serious public health problem. Researchers tested a treatment called an active behavioural physiotherapy intervention to see if it could help people with this condition, as a previous study suggested it might be effective. This was the first time this type of therapy was studied for this specific kind of neck pain.

The goal of this preliminary study was to see if the active behavioural physiotherapy intervention could be effective and to determine if a larger study would be practical. The research was designed as a clinical trial involving 40 people across four public hospitals in Thailand. Participants were put into one of two groups. One group of 20 people received the active behavioural physiotherapy intervention, while the other group of 20 received standard physical therapy. To prevent bias, neither the participants nor the researchers who assessed them knew which treatment they were receiving.

Participants were assessed in person when the study began and again three months later. Researchers measured several outcomes: neck-related disability, pain level on a rating scale, the neck's range of motion, and beliefs about fear and movement. They also used a survey to measure central sensitisation (a condition where the nervous system is highly sensitive) and another to measure general quality of life. The average age of the participants was 38.

The group that received the active behavioural physiotherapy intervention showed improvement in all of the areas that were measured. The group that received standard physical therapy showed improvement in neck disability, pain levels, and the measure for a sensitive nervous system.

When the two groups were compared, the outcomes for the group receiving the active behavioural physiotherapy intervention were better than the outcomes for the standard physical therapy group in all measured areas, with one exception. The only measure that was not better between groups was the one for a sensitive nervous system.

The study also looked at how many participants were considered fully recovered, based on a low score on the neck disability scale. In the group receiving the new intervention, 15 out of 20 people (75%) were considered recovered. In the standard therapy group, 7 out of 20 people (35%) were considered recovered. The study concludes that these findings support continuing to a larger trial with 120 people to fully evaluate the effectiveness of the active behavioural physiotherapy intervention.