Manual Therapy Best for Neck Pain
Study finds it works better than physiotherapy, standard medical care
HealthScoutNews — Manual therapy for neck pain is more effective and less costly than physiotherapy treatment or standard care by a doctor.
So says Dutch research that appears in this week’s issue of the British Medical Journal.
The study included 183 people, aged 18 to 70, who had suffered neck pain for at least two weeks. Sixty of them received manual therapy (spinal mobilization), 59 received physiotherapy (mainly exercise), and 64 received standard care (medication, counseling and education) from a doctor.
After 26 weeks, the study found the people receiving manual therapy recovered more quickly from their neck pain than the people receiving physiotherapy or standard care from a doctor. However, the differences in recovery between the three groups were negligible by the end of 52 weeks.
The study also found the cost of manual therapy was about a third of the cost of the other two forms of treatment.
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