Neck Pain: Chiropractors, Exercise Better Than Medication, Study Says

Your pictures for neck exercises need an explanation of how to

Could not agree more! My chiropractor keeps me free of pain, my body tells me when I need to see him even before the pain is here. Listen to your body and amazing thing happen. Drugs hide the pain, treat the symptoms,but do not get at the heart of of the problem, the Chiropractor does just that and helps the body to function at it highest level.

I am shocked that you would report such a thing about chiropractic without a disclaimer to the fact that it neck maipulation can result in a vertebral artery dissection leading to stroke or even death in most cases. There were studies done on this also. I went to the chriopractor for such a problem until one time i had a dissection that ended in a stroke. I had to re-learn everything and adjust my entire life because of this. Had i known then what i know now I would have never gone the chrio way. The exercises work trust me. I have since gotten them myself from a physical therapist. It takes about a week or so but they really do work. Please be aware there are many cases of stroke from dissection out there it’s not just me.

Could you explain what each photo is showing you to do? I have chronic neck pain, have seen a doctor and was prescribed medication. I’d like to go the exercise route (correctly done) for relief.

I’m glad to see people above commenting (mostly) positive on Physical Therapy (PT). I’ll just add that a 2008 study showed success rates for neck pain treated with PT at 62%. To me, that’s twice the chance of getting better than with the other methods.

I was suprised to see this on tonight. I have been in therapy and these are exactly the exercises I was given for my neck pain. I have problems with the discs in my neck and am in a lot of pain. While going to therapy it was wonderful with heat, exercises and manipulation but I am unable to continue since the copays are 50.00 a session with my insurance. The exercises will have to do for now and it was good to see something else confirming the same thing I’m doing. They really do help when I keep them up. You have to be vigilant. I was also given stretch bands to help with the muscles going from my neck into my shoulders.

Those that may be looking at the exercises should ask their PCP for a referral to a Physical Therapist as well. Posting a list of exercises without much direction on how to target certain muscles, how to adapt the exercises to the patients that may have other complications and more importantly without acknowledging that doing JUST these exercises without correcting the root problem won’t do it is not the best way to go. For example, If you work at a desk job maybe you need an ergonomic assessment at your workplace or just someone with the clinical expertise to figure out what can be changed/done to help better deal with your pain and PREVENT more issues to your neck from occurring. This study looks at patients in a more acute/sub-acute phase (2-12 weeks)…what do you do if it’s already a chronic issue? The article (pdf file) is free to look at and it may give some of you an insight that there was a little more done by the “therapists” than just the exercises posted.
There are PTs that also have training or specialize in manual techniques (i.e. spinal manipulations). I can already hear the chiropractors angry yells BUT remember as with any profession (chiros, PTs, osteopath doc) you have to look for the ones with the right credentials and experience. You can find a bad egg any profession. A PT is likely the more readily available clinician that can see you to deal with an issue like this but hey whatever works right?
Neck pain is an issue that at some point likely affects most people to a different extent. I wish ABC news could at least do a better job directing the public to the right resources regardless of the fact that the segment was reporting on this specific study. For those of you that would like more research on neck pain try and visit these sites at apta.org or jospt.org. I’m obviously biased as a PT myself but this might be a good opportunity to ask your primary care physician or look up a PT that can help make the right recommendations/referrals as needed.

I cannot believe that physical therapy was not mentioned during the news story. I know the study was done to compare chiropractors and medication; however, as Christopher states, a 2008 study showed improvement in 62% of patients who received physical therapy (PT) as compared to the 32% in the chiropractic study. Posting exercises is not as helpful as having a PT teach the exercise, since they are trained in the correct alignment. Many patients THINK they are doing an exercise correctly, but are not, when observed by a trained eye. I have instructed many physicians, who were unaware they were doing an exercise incorrectly. Just posting an exercise could do more harm than good, if done incorrectly (especially easy when working with the neck and shoulder.

DUH!

After over 100 years of field proven results and countless peer reviewed and published studies performed at major Universities and government research centers; with the highest levels of safety records in health care; why does the television MD say that he is reluctant to recommend something that hasn’t been tested? Medicine sweeps their mistakes under the rug daily as people die by the thousands with no mention. Need I even ask why the news media is biased and full of misinformation; just count the drug commercials during the evening news. But Americans continually prove that they are beyond stupid.

Recent MEDICAL studies have proven their is no risk of stroke associated with Chiropractic manipulation. This is just an urban myth. The study was published in the journal Spine a few years ago. The public needs to be much more concerned with the fact that prescription drug errors is a top leading cause of DEATH in the county. PT has its place, just as Medicine, Massage, and chiropractic does. Just because one field is better at treating one condition better than others does not negate the rest and vise-versa

Can’t we all just get along?

Thanks and happy New Year, and yes I am a Chiropractor AND I do work very closely with local MDs, PTs, and Massage Therapists for the mutual benefit of the PATIENT not the provider.

It looked to me as though they were actually doing therapeutic massage. As Susan wrote, Please give credit where credit is due. Massage therapy is probably the most helpful and gentlest was of treating back and neck pain.

I have been treated by a Chiropractor for years and have benefited tremendously. As with medical doctors, financial advisors or architects your experience will reflect the skill of the practitioner. Do your research on the doctor, stop living with pain and get off the the pharmaceutical companies income statement. 
Consider, if a doctor prescribes a medication which requires perpetual use and office visits for pain, you’ll be spending your money perpetually. That is what drives your insurance and cost of care up. Conversely, addressing the displacement of you bones/joints which causes the pain may cure the problem. Which in effect stops the income of the practitioner, insurance company, and pharmaceutical companies. Who stands to gain from this situation? 

This thing about stroke and chiropractic adjustments is a myth perpetuated by the AMA. There was a large study done by this and published in the medical journal Spine. (if you want to verify look it up on pubmed). The study showed that the risk of stroke occuring in a chiropractic office was equal to the risk of stroke in a medical doctors office(and they dont even touch you). The end result is that this type of stroke is spontaneous and can be caused by star gazing and getting your hair washed at the beauty parlor. chiropractic is safe- drugs are not.

Did anyone notice there is no picture for the scapular retraction that you are suppose to repeat 5x?

some factual answers to many of the posts on this topic. 1. Yes, Osteopathic doctors used to be trained to do spinal manipulation and a FEW still do, it is optional in their training. 2. With regard to the stroke issue, the facts are clear and well documented…strokes occur at the same rate of patients leaving a medical doctor’s office as leaving a chiropractor’s office MINIMAL, about one in a million. They simply occur and there is minimal increased risk by having an experienced chiropractor treat you. No profession is without risks. Medical doctors are one of the highest causes of unnecessary deaths in the country but the benefits out weigh the risks so we go to medical doctors. 3. You are thousands of times at greater risk of developing serious side-effects, even death, by taking medications than being treated by an experienced chiropractor, even OTC medications such as Aleve and Tylenol. 4. This is not the first study to say this. Numerous studies over recent years have documented that manipulation especially when combined with active rehabilitation (exercises including PT) is much more effective ( and safer and more cost-effective) than traditional medical intervention. 5. For visceral problems, see your MD, for mechanical problems, manual medicine is best.

Chiropractic is safe and an Ontario Canada study of thousands showed you are more likely to have a dissection after seeing your medical doctor than you were from a chiropractor. I was in a car accident. Two different MDs wrote nothing but pain med Rx;s with no results. I got disgusted and made an appointment with a chiropractor. I walked into the chiropractor’s office one Saturday with neck and shoulder pain and walked out pain free. I felt dizzy for about 5 minutes after the adjustment but it went away.

Hi. I would like to say that I have been going to Chiropractors for 30 yrs snd I’m not finding them to be the best when your going thru a real bad back spasm that just will not cooperate to adjust. I would agree that getting a proper massage would help the muscles and bones heal much better. I have 3 bulging discs, sciatica & neck injuries. Also wondering though if too many neck manipulations can cause it to get stiff?