Medication and chiropractic are utilized by neck pain sufferers. Everyone doesn’t want to or can take certain medications due to unwanted side effects. For those who aren’t sure, it would be nice if research was available to answer the question posted above. Let’s take a look!
PCP Treatment
When people have neck pain, they have options as to where they can go for care. Many seek treatment from their primary care physician (PCP). The PCP’s approach to neck pain management usually results in a prescription. These may include an anti-inflammatory drug (ibuprofen/Naproxen), a muscle relaxant (Flexeril/cyclobenzaprine), and/or a pain pill (like hydrocodone/Vicodin). The choice of which medication a PCP recommends hinges on the patient’s presentation, patient preference, and/or the PCP’s own preference.
Although, it’s becoming increasingly common to have a PCP refer a neck pain patient for chiropractic care. This still does not happen for all neck pain patients in spite of strong research supporting the significant benefits of spinal manipulation to treat neck pain. One such study compared spinal manipulation, acupuncture, and anti-inflammatory medication. The objective is to assess the long-term benefits of these three approaches in patients with chronic (>13 weeks) neck pain. The study randomly divided 115 patients into one of three groups that were all treated for nine weeks. Comparison at the one-year point showed that ONLY those who received spinal manipulation had maintained long-term benefits based on a review of seven main outcome measures. The study concludes that for patients with chronic neck pain, spinal manipulation was the ONLY treatment that maintained a significant long-term (one-year) benefit after nine weeks of treatment!
Neck Pain Treatment Study
In a 2012 study published in the medical journal The Annals of Internal Medicine, 272 acute or sub-acute neck pain patients received one of three treatment approaches. Medication, exercise with advice from a health care practitioner, or chiropractic care. Participants were treated for twelve weeks, with outcomes assessed at 2, 4, 8, 12, 26, and 52 weeks. The patients in the chiropractic care and exercise groups significantly outperformed the medication group at the 26-week point AND had more than DOUBLE the likelihood of complete neck pain relief. However, at the one-year point, ONLY the chiropractic group continued to demonstrate long-term benefits! The significant benefits achieved from both exercise and chiropractic treatments when compared with medication make sense as both address the cause of neck pain as opposed to only masking the symptoms.
With results of these studies showing acute, subacute, as well as chronic neck pain responding BEST to chiropractic care, it only makes sense to TRY THIS FIRST!
