British Study Provides Another Win For Manual Therapy

BRITISH STUDY PROVIDES ANOTHER WIN FOR MANUAL THERAPY: "MOST EFFECTIVE TREATMENT FOR NECK PAIN"

A study published in the British Medical Journal reported on a study of one hundred eighty-three patients with neck pain who were divided into three groups.

One group received manual therapy such as the type of care administered by Chiropractors. One group received physiotherapy (mainly exercise) and the third group received general practitioner care: medication, education and counseling. Costs for each method of treatment were also evaluated, along with costs such as lost wages, home care, drugs, travel costs, etc. Patients kept diaries to track their pain, costs and recoveries.

At the end of seven weeks of treatment, manual therapy was the winner; 68% of the manual therapy group demonstrated recovery after seven weeks, compared to 51% of the physiotherapy group and 36% in the general practitioner group.

At the six-month mark, manual therapy proved to be much less expensive than the other two forms of treatment. The mean cost for manual therapy was reported as $402 per patient. For physiotherapy, reported cost was $1,167 and the general practitioner group had the highest cost of all at $1,241.

SOURCE: Chiropractic Research Review