Literature Review Shows Chiropractic Beneficial for Patients With Neck Pain

A literature review of existing studies shows that chiropractic care is effective for patients suffering from chronic neck pain. The study, published in the scientific periodical, the March 2007 issue of the Journal of Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics, looked at 16 prior studies and put the data from these studies together to get a larger picture of results.

The results of this literature review were also picked up by several news outlets including the May 6, 2007 Medical-News.net and the May 3, 2007 United Press International. This review was very specific and did not look at cases involving whiplash, headaches, or arm pain. The reviewers only looked at scientifically sound cases that involved chronic neck pain.

Howard Vernon, DC, PhD, the review's chief author and his colleagues found what they called "high-quality evidence" that patients with chronic neck pain showed significant pain-level improvements following chiropractic. They also found that in reviewing all these previous studies none of the groups studied remain unchanged, and all of the groups showed positive results in the first 12 weeks. Additionally, they noted that no trial reported any serious adverse effects.

The fact that all these different studies found the same results shows the consistency of chiropractic for these problems. Dr. Vernon commented, "The results of the literature review confirm the common clinical experience of doctors of chiropractic: neck manipulation is beneficial for patients with certain forms of chronic neck pain."

The authors of the review noted that neck pain is a very common problem, second only to low back pain in its frequency in the general population.