Neck Pain is the 2nd most
common complaint we treat:
I always get
the question, "What caused my neck to 'go out?'".
In some cases it is obvious; lifting something to heavy,
falling down, getting in a car accident... but in a lot
of cases, the cause is unknown.
This can be very frustrating for the
injured because we all want to know 'why this is
happening to me?'
Most commonly;
muscles, ligaments, cartilage, nerves and bones are the
5 tissue types involved in low back pain. It can
me one of these tissue types or any combination of all 5
tissue types that trigger back pain.
Sprain/Strain involves the muscles
and ligaments.
Arthritis involves the cartilage and
bones.
Disc herniation and 'pinched nerves'
involved the cartilage and bones.
Once inflammation occurs, there is a
chemical change to the region of involvement that allows
our tissues to be more sensitive to pain. We
actually become more efficient in sensing pain with the
more pain we have. This sensitization to pain can lead
to chronic pain syndromes.
Mechanical stimulation (ie. massage,
stretching, spinal adjustments) to the tissues and
joints of the back result in stimulation of movement
nerve receptors. Stimulation of these receptor
types help to inhibit pain and reduce inflammation.
Chiropractic Research
Numerous studies have shown that chiropractic treatment
is both safe and effective. The following are
excerpts from a few of the more recent studies. By
examining the research supporting chiropractic care, you
will find that chiropractic offers tremendous potential
in meeting today’s health care challenges.
For Acute and Chronic Pain
“Patients with chronic low-back pain treated by
chiropractors showed greater improvement and
satisfaction at one month than patients treated by
family physicians. Satisfaction scores were higher for
chiropractic patients. A higher proportion of
chiropractic patients (56 percent vs. 13 percent)
reported that their low-back pain was better or much
better, whereas nearly one-third of medical patients
reported their low-back pain was worse or much worse.”
– Nyiendo et al (2000), Journal of Manipulative and
Physiological Therapeutics
In a Randomized controlled trial, 183 patients with
neck pain were randomly allocated to manual therapy
(spinal mobilization), physiotherapy (mainly exercise)
or general practitioner care (counseling, education and
drugs) in a 52-week study. The clinical outcomes
measures showed that manual therapy resulted in faster
recovery than physiotherapy and general practitioner
care. Moreover, total costs of the manual
therapy-treated patients were about one-third of the
costs of physiotherapy or general practitioner care.
-- Korthals-de Bos et al (2003),
British Medical Journal
In Comparison to Other Treatment Alternatives
“Acute and chronic chiropractic patients experienced
better outcomes in pain, functional disability, and
patient satisfaction; clinically important differences
in pain and disability improvement were found for
chronic patients.”
– Haas et al (2005), Journal of
Manipulative and Physiological Therapeutics
“In our randomized, controlled trial, we compared the
effectiveness of manual therapy, physical therapy, and
continued care by a general practitioner in patients
with nonspecific neck pain. The success rate at seven
weeks was twice as high for the manual therapy group
(68.3 percent) as for the continued care group (general
practitioner). Manual therapy scored better than
physical therapy on all outcome measures. Patients
receiving manual therapy had fewer absences from work
than patients receiving physical therapy or continued
care, and manual therapy and physical therapy each
resulted in statistically significant less analgesic use
than continued care.”
– Hoving et al (2002), Annals of
Internal Medicine
