Exercise and Physical Therapy 'More Effective than Drugs for Neck Pain'

09 January 2012
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Seeing a chiropractor and taking light exercise may be the best way to relieve neck pain, new research reveals.

In a study on the effectiveness of neck pain management, researchers discovered that these non-medical treatments resulted in better outcomes than common forms of pain relief medications, such as aspirin and ibuprofen.

The study, conducted by a team from Northwestern Health Sciences University in Minnesota in the US, included more than 270 adults suffering from different types of neck pain, who were split into three groups, and analysed for three months with follow ups after six months and a year.

One group received 15 20-minute sessions with a chiropractor, while the second group took common pain relievers. The third group was given advice from a physical therapist and encouraged to do a simple set of gentle exercises up to eight times a day.

After 12 weeks, the group that had received spinal manipulation therapy from the chiropractor had significantly less pain than patients from the medicated group. This was still true after 26 weeks and one year. After six months, home exercise with advice was also found to be more effective than medication.

32 per cent of the patients treated by a chiropractor and 30 per cent of those who exercised reported being completely pain free, compared to just 13 per cent of the group treated with medication.

"For participants with acute and subacute neck pain, spinal manipulation therapy was more effective than medication in both the short and long term. However, a few instructional sessions of home exercise with advice resulted in similar outcomes at most time points," the researchers, who published their findings in the Annals of Internal Medicine, concluded.

A spokesperson for Arthritis Ireland said: "These results are further evidence that arthritis and musculoskeletal pain require more than just a medical approach. Physical therapy and regular exercise, along with keeping a healthy weight and eating a balanced diet, make a big difference to how a person lives with a chronic condition."