bmj.com Bos et al. 326 (7395): 911
Manual Thereapy is better than Physlcal Therapy or "General Practitioner" care for neck pain:
What is already known on this topic
The cost of treating neck pain is considerable Many conservative interventions are available, such as prescription drugs, yet their cost effectiveness has not been evaluated No randomised trials of conservative treatment for neck pain have so far included an economic evaluation
What this study adds
Manual therapy is more effective and less costly than physiotherapy or care by a general practitioner for treating neck pain Patients undergoing manual therapy recovered more quickly than those undergoing the other interventions
my wife went to her gp Jan 4, 2002 presenting neck pain and a headache….she died September 18 2002 with undiagnosed CNS cancer. The whole thing was a horror story…….but above all else I found that the many drs we dealt with had no personal experience with symptoms, pain and presribed meds, or specific procedures as to how they are perceived by the patient….that’s not info I recommend to learn by doing but better informed practioners would skip common analgesics that are ineffective, treatments that are futile, and procedures that degrade what remains of a life