Mechanical neck pain affects an estimated 70% of people at some point during their lives.
Because there are many different treatment options available, it can be difficult to know which approach is best. Fortunately, research has provided some very helpful answers.
One study compared three treatment approaches for patients with acute and subacute neck pain:
1. spinal manipulative therapy (SMT) only
2. medication only
3. home exercise and advice
The study included 272 patients whose neck pain had been present between two and twelve weeks.
Researchers followed the participants for one year. The results showed that the group receiving spinal manipulation had a statistically significant advantage over medication at 8, 12, 26, and 52 weeks.
The home exercise group also performed better than the medication group.
Most importantly, the chiropractic and exercise groups produced similar results, and both clearly outperformed medication alone.
Another study found that supervised strengthening exercise, with or without spinal manipulation, was superior to a lower-dose home exercise program.
For chronic neck pain—pain that has been present for more than three months—a second study evaluated 191 patients who were randomly assigned to one of three treatment groups:
1. spinal manipulation alone
2. spinal manipulation plus simple neck exercises
3. MedX rehabilitation exercise
The highest level of patient satisfaction occurred in the second group—those who received both spinal manipulation and neck exercises.
Another large-scale review, which analyzed more than 350 published studies, reached a similar conclusion: manual therapy and supervised exercise continue to rank among the best non-invasive treatment options for neck pain.
In other words, the very things chiropractors commonly do—adjust the neck, improve motion, and provide specific exercises—appear to be among the most effective ways to treat neck pain.
