in the daily lives of most modern people , the time spent working with the neck bent 
 forward , working on a computer , riding in cars , and engaging in leisure activities while in 
 a sitting positions has been increasing . this sitting causes overloads in the soft tissues 
 that support the neck , and repeated damage adversely affects neck stability . therefore , 
 understanding neck - stabilizing exercises is necessary not only to prevent neck diseases but 
 also to reduce chronic neck pain . recently , among therapeutic exercises , the importance of 
 stabilizing exercises that strengthen deep muscles , such as the longus colli muscle and the 
 longus capitis muscle , which play leading roles in maintaining the stability of the spine in 
 order to keep the cervical spine in the neutral position , has been noticed . many previous studies have reported that stabilizing exercises are quite effective at 
 reducing chronic neck pain and improving neck function1 . previous studies have also reported that neck - stabilizing exercises 
 greatly affected the strength and endurance of deep muscles . among these stabilizing 
 exercise methods , a method using slings2 
 and a method using cervical flexion exercises3 and a pbu in the supine position4 have been reported . recently , neck - stabilizing exercises that can be 
 performed in standing positions have been developed , so that neck - stabilizing exercises can 
 be performed anytime , anywhere5 . . reports in which 
 massage , a passive method , was directly applied to the longus colli muscle and its effect on 
 the strength and endurance of the dnf are rare . patient with acute pain can not perform 
 stabilizing exercises , and elderly persons with low cognitive abilities can not improve their 
 neck stabilization abilities through stabilizing exercises that require active 
 participation . the present study directly applied massage to the longus colli muscle , which is an 
 important element in neck stabilization , and examined its effect of the massage on the 
 strength and endurance of the deep muscles , important elements in neck stabilization . longus colli massage process ( the throat and bronchial tubes were pushed to one side 
 using a finger . ischemic compression applied to the longus colli ) the subjects who participated in the present study were 60 students of n university in 
 korea . they were divided into an experimental group of 30 subjects ( 15 males and 15 females ) 
 and a control group of 30 subjects ( 15 males and 15 females ) . the experimental group s age 
 was 23.13.2  years , its height was 166.47.9  cm , and its weight was 62.711.7  kg . the 
 control group s age was 23.14.3  years , its height was 166.37.2  cm , and its weight was 
 61.610.3  kg . there were no statistically significant difference between the two groups in 
 age , height or weight(p>0.05 ) . those 
 who had undergone surgery , those who were receiving treatment at a hospital , and those who 
 had ruptured cervical disks were excluded from the study . the purpose of the study and the 
 entire process of the experiment were explained to all the subjects , and voluntary written 
 agreements were received from all of them before they participated in the experiment . the experimental group was given massage in order to relax the longus colli muscle , while 
 the control group was given general neck massage . after applying the massage once , the 
 immediate effect was tested . in the experimental group , for massage of the longus colli 
 muscle , the subjects first lay down on massage table in the supine position and with c7 
 placed on the table , and c6 off the table in order to induce cervical spine extension . at 
 this time , the subject s head was supported by the hands of the therapist in order to induce 
 slow extension . thereafter , in order to find out the tonus of the longus colli muscle , 
 extension was induced to the left and to the right , while 15 of cervical rotation was 
 maintained . then , massage was applied to the longus colli muscle on the side that was 
 thought to have high muscle tone , between the left and right longus colli muscles , in order 
 to relax this muscle . in this technique , the practitioner first checked the flexibility of 
 the subject s throat and bronchial tubes by pushing the respective parts from left to right 
 using the index and middle fingers of both hands . then , in order to relax a particular side 
 of the longus colli , the practitioner pushed the throat and bronchial tubes in the opposite 
 direction , while applying a horizontal force so as to have the longus colli exposed . after 
 this , the practitioner fixed his / her index and middle fingers on the subject s throat and 
 bronchial tubes in a hook shape , and pressed the tense area of the longus colli with the tip 
 of the thumb of the opposite hand in the dorsal direction ; then gently pressed again , by 
 placing the opposite thumb over the first thumb on the area . at this time , the therapist 
 compressed the muscle at strength that would not cause tonus of the superficial muscles 
 while sensing the relaxation of the longus colli muscle with the fingertips ( fig . the longus colli massage was mainly applied 
 to segments around c5 , where shortening occurs . each compression was maintained for 
 approximately 57 seconds , and the compression was repeated 56 times or until muscle 
 relaxation was felt by the therapist s fingertips . after massage , relaxation was checked 
 through retests6 . for the control group , massage was applied to the sternocleidomastoid muscle , the superior trapezius muscle , the 
 musculus levator scapulae , and the posterior muscles of the neck7 . the strength and endurance of the dnf were measured via revised cranio - cervical flexion 
 tests ( ccft ) using a pbu ( chattanooga group , australia ) . strength was measured as the time 
 which the maximum voluntary contractile strength ( mvcs ) , the pressure of the maximum push 
 over a base pressure of 80 mmhg , could be maintained , and endurance was measured as the time 
 during which the intermediate pressure between the base pressure and mvcs could be 
 maintained5 . the experimental results were statistically analyzed using spss 12.0 ko ( spss , chicago , il , 
 usa ) . after the general characteristics of the subjects were determined , the paired t - test 
 was used to compare the changes in strength and endurance that occurred between pre - test and 
 post - test in each group . the differences between the two groups were tested using the 
 independent t - test . difference : difference of pre - test and post - test * p<0.05 the strength and endurance of the experimental group and the control group before and after 
 the experiment were compared . the strength of the experimental group showed a statistically 
 significant difference between before and after the intervention , and the endurance of the 
 experimental group showed an increase , although the increase was not statistically 
 significant ( table 1 ) . the independent sample 
 t - test was conducted to test the significance of the differences in the pre - test , the 
 post - test , and the differences between the pre - test and post - test values of the strength and 
 endurance between the two groups ; none of the differences were statisticaly significant 
 ( table 2 ) . in the present study , massage was directly applied to the longus colli muscle , which plays 
 an important role in neck stabilization , and the effects of the massage on the strength and 
 endurance of the dnf were examined . among previous studies , there are reports of massage 
 directly applied to the longus colli muscle resulting in increases in the range of motion of 
 the cervical spine6 . however , no previous 
 studies in which massage was directly applied to the longus colli muscle , as was done in the 
 present study , could be found . among the studies that reported improvement in the strength 
 and endurance of the longus colli muscle after exercises , jeon et al . reported improvement 
 in the strength and endurance of subjects who performed cervical stabilizing exercises in 
 either the standing or supine positions5 . conducted craniocervical flexion exercises and cervical flexion exercises for 
 chronic neck pain patients for seven weeks , aiming to improve the strength and endurance of 
 the cervical flexor muscle , and reported , the strength of the cervical flexor muscle was 
 improved8 . in the present study , massage was directly applied to the longus colli muscle , and a 
 statistically significant , increase in muscle strength after the experiment was found in the 
 experimental group . this result is considered have been the result of muscle relaxation 
 induced by direct ischemic compression of the longus colli muscle after the bronchus and the 
 esophagus had been pushed to one side . however , although endurance showed an increase in the 
 average value , the increase was not statistically significant . the independent t - test did 
 not find statisticaly significant differences between the grops , indicating that exercises 
 are more effective than massage at improving the strength and endurance of the longus colli 
 muscle . however , because patients with acute pain or elderly persons with low cognitive 
 abilities can not actively participate in neck - stabilizing exercises , massage could be 
 applied to the longus colli muscle , which is the deep neck flexor muscle , as an alternative 
 method to improve strength and endurance , which are measures of neck stabilization . therefore , longus colli muscle massage can be applied to patients who can not perform 
 neck - stabilizing exercises or before other neck - stabilizing exercises are performed .