Abstract
The purposes of rehabilitation after neck dissection are to maintain the range of motion of the shoulder and prevent muscular pain and arthralgia in it. It is important that shoulder exercise to improve the range of motion is initiated soon after neck dissection and it is initially performed in a supine position to reduce the weight of the arm. It is also important not to produce muscular pain and arthralgia due to overexercise. Even in functional neck dissection, which has often been performed recently, this rehabilitation is necessary because of the high incidence of surgical damage to the accessory nerve. In neck dissection in which the accessory nerve has been removed surgically, a good range of motion of the shoulder without associated difficulties in daily life can be achieved by rehabilitation.
