Treatment chronic neck pain

Treatment of Chronic Neck Pain with Chiropractic And Manual Therapy

Chronic neck pain affects thousands of individuals each year limiting their home, work, and recreational activities. Acute neck pain is a sudden onset that will probably last a few weeks and resolve. Chronic neck pain by definition is an ongoing pain that fluctuates multiple times over the course of a year. Because of several factors it is more likely to keep coming back and reproducing the pain symptoms. There are several treatments that are performed to help control the intensity, frequency, and duration of pain.

The below study looked to review the information on chronic neck pain and possible treatments. It looked at chiropractic, manual therapy, and massage therapy as treatments. It found that chiropractic and manual therapy provided consistent relief long term for patients with chronic neck pain. With a very high confidence level and statistical significance it showed a consistent improvement in neck pain symptoms with people receivingthe treatment.

This study does show that there are morethan one ways to skin a cat. By that I am suggesting that neck pain can be improved with attacking the joint pain with manipulation. It can also be improved with addressing the muscle pain through manual therapy. Both can help people improve their chronicneck pain.

I believe we see chronic neck pain as a combination of joint pain and muscle pain. I am always a big fan of the more tools in a tool box the more treatment options you havefor people. I don’t like treating people with just one tool when multiple tools can show a greater benefit.

With chronic neck pain I always believe in adjusting the joints to get the joints moving; and addressing the muscle hypertonicity, fashion restrictions, and scar tissue. We incorporate manual therapy, massage therapy, and Graston Technique in the treatments for the muscle injuries and factors producing myofascialpain. Combining this with exercises, stretches, muscle pattern development, and neuromuscular reeducation we seem to produce longer lasting effects than any of these treatments by themselves. In the future I expect we will see more studies that are incorporating these different types of treatments and combinations of treatments into helping people with their neck pain.

The following article discusses back pain and exercises for back pain. The abstract is below for your reading. More information on neck pain and exercise videos for strength and endurance.

More information on therapeutic treatments utilizing Physical Therapy or Chiropractic can be directed to Google+.

Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics

Volume 30, Issue 3 , Pages 215-227, March 2007

Chronic Mechanical Neck Pain in Adults Treated by Manual Therapy: A Systematic Review of Change Scores in Randomized Clinical Trials

Howard Vernon, DC, PhD, Kim Humphreys, DC, PhD, Carol Hagino, MBA

Abstract

Objective

This study provides a systematic analysis of group change scores in randomized clinical trials of chronic neck pain not due to whiplash and not including headache or arm pain treated with manual therapy.

Methods

A comprehensive literature searchof clinical trials of chronic neck pain treated with manual therapies up to December 2005. Only clinical trials scoring above 11.5 (Amsterdam-Maastricht Scale) were included in the analysis.

Results

From 1980 citations, 19 publications were selected. Of the 16 trials analyzed (3 were rejected for poor quality), 9 involved spinal manipulation (12 groups), 5 trials (5 groups) were for spinal mobilization or nonmanipulativemanualtherapy (1 trial overlapped), and 2 trials (2 groups) involved massage therapy. No trials included trigger point therapy or manual traction of the neck. For manipulation studies, the mean effect size (ES) at 6 weeks for 7 trials (10 groups) was 1.63 (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.13-2.13); 1.56 (95% CI, 0.73-2.39) at 12 weeks for 4 trials (5 groups); 1.22 (95% CI, 0.38-2.06) from 52 to 104 weeks for 2 trials (2 groups). For mobilization studies, 1 trial reported an ES of 2.5 at 6 weeks, 2 trials reportedfull recovery in 63.8% to 71.7% of subjects at 7 to 52 weeks, and 1 trial reported greater than 2/10 point pain score reductionin 78.3% of subjects at 4 weeks. For massage studies, 1 reported an ES of 0.03 at 6 weeks, whereas the other reported mean change scores of 7.89/100 and 14.4/100 at 1 and 12 weeks of, respectively.

Conclusions

There is moderate- to high-quality evidence that subjects with chronic neck pain not due to whiplash and without arm pain and headaches show clinically important improvements from a course of spinal manipulation or mobilization at 6, 12, and up to 104 weeks posttreatment. The current evidence does not support a similar level of benefit from massage. PubMed

© 2007 National University of Health Sciences. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.