Resumo. BACKGROUND:Plastic hypertonia (rigidity), presented by individuals with Parkinson's disease (PD), leads to reduced range of motion (ROM), impairing daily activities and balance reactions. Connective tissue massage (CTM) promotes increased ROM in normotonic muscles, however its effects on hypertonic muscles are not yet known. AIM: To verify the immediate and acute (1h after) effects of CTM on cervical ROM in individuals with PD. METHOD: Cervical ROM during anterior flexion, extension, lateral flexion, and rotation was evaluated using a fleximeter at three moments: before (M1), immediately after (M2), and one hour after (M3) CTM in 14 older people with PD (PDG) and 13 neurologically healthy older people (CG). RESULTS: The CG presented a higher ROM than the PDG for the cervical rotation movement. In addition, there was interaction between group*intervention time. The cervical rotation movement was higher for the CG than PDG at M2 and M3. On the other hand, there was no main effect of intervention time. CONCLUSION: It was concluded that a single session of CTM was not sufficient to promote an increase in ROM in either normotonic or hypertonic muscles in older people, but the higher ROM for cervical rotation in the CG versus PDG was evident after CTM.