Tuesday, April 1, 2014

That Pain in the Neck

Neck pain can be a real "pain in the neck." Whether it is from an auto accident, arthritis, or you just slept wrong the night before. The research for neck pain is not as extensive as lower back pain because low back pain is a more common and disabling condition. There is still ample research out there for the neck though. One of the largest studies on neck pain was called the "Bone and Joint Decade 2000-2010 Task Force on Neck Pain and its Associated Disorders." Basically this is a systematic review-meta analysis which is the highest from of scientific evidenced based papers. It is not a new study but a review off ALL previous studies to see if there are some common conclusions. Well for neck pain the Bone and Joint review stated that manual therapies (such as spinal manipulation and exercise)are more effective for patients than other therapies. It also stated that neck pain returns within 5 years in up to 85% of patients. This study also found that surgery for neck pain was not necessary unless you had severe arm/hand pain or a serious underlying pathology. Another study compared chiropractic care to physical therapy or exercise alone for neck pain. It found that the chiropractic group responded better to care than the physical therapy or exercise group. The last study done in 2014 were Guidelines for the chiropractic treatment of neck pain. It found that spinal manipulation along with exercises seemed to help patients the most for acute and chronic pain. TENS units, traction, and laser therapy could not be recommended. So the next time you have a neck pain you may just want to visit a chiropractor. For more information you can call us at 512 556-8223 or visit us on facebook at https://www.facebook.com/pages/Benton-Chiropractic-Clinic/170215313076258?ref=hl or our website at www.bentonchiropracticclinic.com.

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