Complementary therapies for neck pain

This study is making news because of its major finding: when the participants were assessed a year after the start of the study (that is, 6 to 7 months after completing treatment), those assigned to acupuncture or Alexander Technique lessons reported significantly less pain and disability than those receiving usual care alone. No serious side effects due to treatment were reported. Of course, there are caveats Before we declare victory over neck pain, we should mention some important limitations of this research. They include: More than half of the patients with neck pain originally considered for the study were excluded. The most common reasons for exclusion were the presence of only minor pain, a “serious” cause of neck pain (such as rheumatoid arthritis), or prior surgery Differences in the amount of improvement between the three groups was somewhat modest. For example, compared with symptoms at study entry, there was a 32% improvement in the pain score with acupuncture, 31% with the Alexander Technique, and 23% for usual care. These study subjects were particularly motivated to enroll in a clinical trial that required a good deal of time and commitment. These treatments require not only a big time commitment but, outside of clinical trials, may be expensive. We don’t know whether the benefits extend beyond 1 year. What do the results mean for neck pain sufferers? Even with the encouraging results of this study, we need better treatments for neck pain and to unders...
Source: New Harvard Health Information - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Behavioral Health Complementary and alternative medicine Pain Management neck pain Source Type: news